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Lorna Bladen

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Chief Marketing Officer

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Lorna Bladen is the Chief of Marketing at Enterprise Nation. Lorna has over ten years of experience working in marketing. 

Previous roles include:
- Head of Marketing at Escape The City
- Head of Partnerships at Moneypenny
- Freelance marketing consultant
- Marketing lead at StartUp Britain

Lorna is based in Brighton, West Sussex and is open to supporting small businesses across the UK.

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I&apos;m a <a href=&apos;https://danmartinuk.com/&apos; target=&apos;_self&apos;>freelance content creator and event host</a> who helps small businesses and the organisations that support them. I&apos;m also Enterprise Nation&apos;s Local Leader for Bristol.
I have 20 years of experience as a small business journalist having interviewed hundreds of entrepreneurs from famous names like Sir Richard Branson and Deborah Meaden to the founders behind brand new start-ups.
I&apos;ve worked for a range of leading small business publications and support groups, most recently as head of content at Enterprise Nation where I was responsible for the prolific output of content on the company&apos;s blog and social media. I now freelance for Enterprise Nation as the website&apos;s <a href=&apos;https://www.enterprisenation.com/business-news&apos; target=&apos;_self&apos;>news reporter</a> and as the host of the <a href=&apos;https://www.enterprisenation.com/podcast&apos; target=&apos;_self&apos;>Small Business sessions podcast</a>.
I&apos;m based in Bristol where I run and host regular events with the local small business community in my role as Enterprise Nation&apos;s Local Leader for Bristol. I also have strong connections with other major business organisations in the south west region.
In total, I&apos;ve hosted over 100 events including conferences with an audience of hundreds for international brands like Xero and Facebook and live web chats from inside 10 Downing Street.
With my partner, I co-run <a href=&apos;https://www.lifestyledistrict.co.uk/&apos; target=&apos;_self&apos;>Lifestyle District</a>, a lifestyle blog focused on culture, art, theatre and photography.

Freelance content creator & event host

Christian Azolan: How artists and creatives can achieve business success - Small Business Sessions podcast (S707)

Enterprise Nation member Christian Azolan is a mixed media visual artist.

I am a consumer goods marketing professional having worked for some of the big global FMCG household brands. &amp;nbsp;I have also worked over the past few years with many Start Ups and SME's. &amp;nbsp;I now run my own Marketing Consutancy -the services I can offer are: &amp;nbsp;firstly, marketing strategy development ( Market Analysis, targeting , Positioning , Communication Strategy) to drive profitable growth along with implementation of the strategy ( if required) and secondly I can offer a marketing training programme of workshops at your offices or off site ( whatever works best for you) - the training programmes can tailored to your individual needs or you can attend an "off the shelf" workshops on how to develop a marketing strategy to drive your brands profitable growth and helping building your personal confidence and capability in marketing.

Founder

Marketing Book Club

A monthly meeting to relax, network and discuss a marketing book for an hour.

I am the founder and CTO of Fifty5bytes Ltd., a digital solutions company that helps businesses grow through innovative web design, development, branding, and digital marketing services. I created Virtifi, an NFC-based smart business card solution, as part of our mission to deliver modern, impactful technology solutions. Over the years, I’ve led my team through many complex projects, from custom development to branding strategies, empowering businesses to stand out. I thrive on creating new things—whether it’s gadgets, technology, or solutions that make life easier. I also have a keen interest in AI and machine learning, having worked on several projects in this field. Additionally, I teach Business and computer programming, and enjoy helping new businesses with growth strategies, marketing, and problem-solving. I’m passionate about building processes and automation for complex tasks, ensuring efficiency and growth.
Looking ahead, my vision for Fifty5bytes is to continue driving innovation, providing cutting-edge digital solutions that make businesses more efficient and successful.

Founder and CTO

NFC Connect cards

At Virtifi, we make it simple to grow your followers on social media and increase your content&apos;s visibility. How many times have you lost potential followers because they couldn&apos;t find your profile quickly? With our NFC Social Media Connect Cards, you can turn that inconvenience into an opportunity.

Our NFC Connect Cards make it easy for people to follow your social media profiles with just a simple tap. No need to search for your profile manually, your potential followers can connect

Serial entrepreneur and innovation director across multiple verticals, with a technology and sector agnostic approach to consulting. Currently consulting to various ventures ie Medtech, CPG, FMCG, Fintech, Adtech, HeathTech etc

Having been deeply immersed in the Startup / SME EcoSystem for approximately 25 years, in 2 distinct sectors and countries with various business models. Providing both product / services for b2b and b2b segments has allowed me to gain a solid amount of diverse knowledge and understanding.
This entrepreneurial experience also allowed to gain insights of the innovation value chain and operational requirements of building / scaling ventures, for product market fit. The critical component of fundraising through various mechanisms, is an area that I understand well, having bootstrapped businesses and then raised circa 3m Euros across angel, Venture Capital and the European Development Fund (EDF).
The full spectrum of the fund-raising process was arguably the most challenging aspect of venture building for a multitude of reasons and it was a definite grind to get it done. Learning to dealing with brutal reality was a crucial part of success and helped test / fortify my resilience and growth mindset.
The last venture Zveetz had a regenerative aspect with a mission to make a dent against sugar pollution and its consequences to people and planet. Working cross functionally with a stellar team of individuals including food and behavioural scientists to deliver an impactful value proposition was highly rewarding. The business model was multifaceted with transactional, subscription and asymmetrical revenue streams. We were able to move the needle on sugar reduction and enabled people to be more sugar smart, thereby hitting multiple impact and revenue KPI’s.
Previously to that, I had the privilege of deep diving into the world of AI, machine learning &amp; ontologies to build a recommendation engine SaaS for the e-commerce sector, although there were multiple future use cases for the technology. This immersion and venture was very challenging for multiple reasons but ultimately the outcomes were net positive, so the juice was worth the squeeze.
hankfully, I have been able to transition into the role of an Innovation Director and apply skills / experience to provide consultation across the Oxford Innovation ecosystem to various stakeholders.&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Performed 96 one to one business support sessions and workshops for students, faculty, startup and SMEs teams.</li>
<li>Consulting with the KTP (Knowledge Transfer Partnerships) department to revamping program offering and positioning to meet desired Research Excellence Framework (REF 29) standards.</li>
<li>Supporting faculty members across the UnIversity’s different schools, on commercialisation of their research and various potential fund-raising strategies.</li>
<li>Working with the AI Research group within the University to develop their strategic roadmap.</li>
<li>Supporting the establishment of “Managementfest”, a student led innovation &amp; entrepreneurship conference and accelerator programme at BNU.</li>
<li>Regularly meeting with the university leadership committee to report all innovation initiatives and results.</li>
<li>Leading Oxford Innovation AI working group with a remit to i) develop a wholistic adoption strategy for competitive advantage. ii) Steering AI integration and operationalisation across the org, towards ISO42001 (trustworthy) compliance.</li>
</ul>

Innovation Director

Vishal Kawatra

Serial entrepreneur and innovation director across multiple verticals, with a technology and sector agnostic approach to consulting. Currently consulting to various ventures ie Medtech, CPG, FMCG, Fintech, Adtech, HeathTech etc

Having been deeply immersed in the Startup / SME EcoSystem for approximately 25 years, in 2 distinct sectors and countries with various business models. Providing both product / services for b2b and b2b segments has allowed me to gain a solid amount of d

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