Entrepreneurship

Find contact information for staff involved with entrepreneurship.

Jerry Allen

Director for Entrepreneurship

Jerry joined UCL in 2017 to grow UCL's entrepreneurial programme, developing future entrepreneurs and business leaders as part of the UCL Innovation & Enterprise Strategic Plan.

He’s keen to nurture the vast entrepreneurial talent that exists among students, researchers, staff and the alumni network and to showcase UCL as a global leader in entrepreneurship.

Terry J Hosten

Operations Manager for Entrepreneurship

Tel: 020 3108 7399 (internal: 57399)
Mobile: 07918 279197
Email: t.hosten@ucl.ac.uk

Terry oversees operations management and maintenance of the facilities at UCL BaseKX, UCL’s entrepreneurship hub in King’s Cross.

Contact Terry about:

daily operations and administration of BaseKX
on boarding, card access and safety inductions
event and room bookings

Terry has several years of experience in managing administrative and operational processes, as well as facilities services within the higher education sector.

Dr Ruth Weir

Head of Entrepreneurship

Tel: 020 3549 5122 (internal: 65122)
Email: ruth.weir@ucl.ac.uk

Ruth is responsible for the planning and delivery of the end-to-end entrepreneurial training programme at UCL.

Contact Ruth about:

working as a student entrepreneurship officer, supporting the delivery of our programmes
being a mentor for UCL startups
delivering inspiring sessions to the UCL entrepreneurship community

Ruth has a background in academic research, graduating with a PhD in Neuroscience from UCL in 2013. She will passionately talk about her own journey from academic researcher to entrepreneurship educator.

Matthew Harris

Entrepreneurship Advisor

Tel: 020 8016 7817
Email: matt.harris@ucl.ac.uk

Matthew is responsible for delivering SPERO, our training programme helping doctoral students and early career researchers to develop their entrepreneurial knowledge, skills and mindset. He's also co-lead for the UCL Diverse Founders’ Network (DFN).

Contact Matthew about:

the different components of the SPERO programme
how developing an entrepreneurial mindset can benefit your current research and future career
attending or participating in DFN activities

Matthew holds an MPhil in Philosophy from UCL and has a background of entrepreneurial experience, as well as experience providing entrepreneurial support to a range of startups. He has a passion for encouraging people to explore entrepreneurship and building networks across the entrepreneurial community.

Jivko Hristov

Entrepreneurship Advisor

Tel: 020 3108 6698 (internal: 56698)
Email: j.hristov@ucl.ac.uk

Jivko provides one-to-one business advice to students, staff and alumni. He supports UCL entrepreneurs to start their business ventures and grow them successfully.

Jivko has a proven track record of sound business acumen and extensive knowledge of the business cycle. He's down to earth and enthusiastic when supporting people who are on their enterprise journey.

Christopher Norwood

Entrepreneurship Advisor

Email: christopher.norwood.18@ucl.ac.uk

Chris provides one-to-one business advice to entrepreneurs and supports UCL startups at all stages to successfully grow and scale. Chris has a specific focus on early-stage software companies.

Contact Chris about:

early stage go-to-market strategies
the UCL Hatchery incubation programme
advice on launching a business
funding and scaling strategies
general business support and coaching sessions

Chris holds a BA in English Literature from UCL and is founder of ShareTogether; a London-based staff rewards platform. ShareTogether works with corporates to build custom group discounts at local restaurants for their staff, encouraging teams to bond outside the office. They work with over 30 venue partners including major UK chains like Wagamama and LEON.

Mikael Tesfaye

Entrepreneurship Advisor

Tel: 020 7679 4204 (internal: 24204)
Email: m.tesfaye@ucl.ac.uk

Mikael is responsible for our core entrepreneurial programme and advises innovative UCL students and graduates on the ideation and validation of their businesses.

Contact Mikael about:

exploring your entrepreneurial idea
building your business or social enterprise
collaborating on inter-departmental entrepreneurship projects

Mikael holds an MSc in Business Innovation with Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management from Birkbeck College. He’s interested in data science and analytics, and assessing graduate outcomes and patterns of success and failure among startups.

Kiran Thadhani

Entrepreneurship Advisor

Tel: 020 3108 7397 (internal: 57397)
Email: k.thadhani@ucl.ac.uk

Kiran is responsible for our core entrepreneurial mentorship programme. She also provides one-to-one business advice to entrepreneurs and supports UCL startups at all stages to successfully grow and scale. Kiran is also co-lead of the UCL Diverse Founders’ Network (DFN).

Contact Kiran about:

exploring your entrepreneurial idea and building an entrepreneurial mindset
finding or becoming a mentor
being part of the Diverse Founders' Network

Kiran holds an MBA from Baruch College, specialising in entrepreneurship and sustainability. She has a background of entrepreneurial experience and conflict resolution, and has provided entrepreneurial support across various backgrounds, cultures and contexts in situations of crisis or conflict.

Kiran loves supporting people to find their inner entrepreneur and use their imaginations to create businesses that are purpose driven.