I’ve been actively encouraging women to network since starting a lunchtime networking event in Nottingham in March 2006. Being a volunteer mentor for start-up businesses and for students on the Entrepreneurship course at Nottingham University, I’m always keen to encourage young women to make the most of every networking opportunity. My online community for East Midlands business women set up I 2007 and the Smart Women site, www.womegetsmart.co.uk, has been going from strength to strength ever since. The site encourages inter-network networking and for women to post their own events to cross-fertilise contacts and opportunities.

Jonathan English is co-founder of Skeleton Productions - a digital marketing company. He is a specialist at creating multimedia content and is currently producing online video clips for Sport England, Cambridge University, Nottingham University and a number of other corporate clients. Jonathan also developed the popular “The Big Uni Reunion”. It all started by bringing together Nottingham graduates who had moved to London – the events were designed to re-create nostalgic student nights out. Now they run regular reunions throughout the year in London for graduates from different universities across the UK.

I am not an academic. I am a linguist by education having studied French and Italian at Nottingham University. I am from a business background, having word for many years in International Trade, shifting for a brief while to a major accounting firm, before establishing my own consultancy business specialising in small business start-up and development, international trade advice and business funding. Before coming to Nottingham Trent University, I ran my own consultancy business, as well as developing a number of other small business opportunities over the last few years in areas such as mobile communications, printing, software development, first aid supplies and latterly express courier transport. I am currently student enterprise adviser at Nottingham Trent University and provide support, encouragement and advice to undergraduates and graduates in their business development aspirations. I manage the Students in Free Enterprise programme for the university as well as the Student Placements in Education (SPEED) programme and am an integral member of the Hive team. The Hive is the university’s own business development and creation centre based on campus in Nottingham.