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.

Euan Bell

Entrepreneurship Ventures Manager

Email: euan.bell@ucl.ac.uk

Euan is responsible for managing the organisation and delivery of the UCL Hatchery business incubator programme.

Contact Euan about:

participation in the Hatchery programme
supporting the Hatchery ventures
any questions about the Hatchery ventures, programme or delivery team
signposting relevant entrepreneurship services

Euan has experience in providing entrepreneurship support to a range of startups. Before joining UCL, he worked at Imperial College London for 6 years, creating and running multiple accelerator programmes for student to graduate startups.

Matthew Harris

Entrepreneurship Programmes Manager

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

Matthew is responsible for overseeing the development and delivery of our extracurricular entrepreneurial training programmes. He's also co-lead for the UCL Diverse Founders’ Network (DFN).

Contact Matthew about:

the different components of the entrepreneurship training programmes on offer
how developing entrepreneurial skills can benefit your studies and career
taking the first steps on your entrepreneurial journey
collaborating on an activity for the entrepreneurship community

Matthew holds an MPhil in Philosophy from UCL and has a background of entrepreneurial experience, as well as experience providing support to a range of startups. He has a passion for encouraging people to develop entrepreneurial skills, explore ideas and to launch ventures.

Molly Casey

Entrepreneurship Advisor

Email: molly.casey.21@ucl.ac.uk

Molly is responsible for our entrepreneurship mentoring programme. She also supports the UCL Hatchery incubator programme and is co-lead of the UCL Diverse Founders’ Network (DFN).

Contact Molly about:

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

Molly graduated in 2024 from the UCL School of Management with a first-class BSc in Information Management for Business. During her time at UCL, Molly was President of the UCL Entrepreneurs Society, overseeing 850 members. Molly also participated in the Hatchery incubator programme with her InsureTech startup, PolicyPlus.

Juste Galminaite

Entrepreneurship Advisor

Email: j.galminaite@ucl.ac.uk

Juste oversees early-stage entrepreneurship training workshops, helping students, staff and alumni to develop transferable impact-driven skills, discover entrepreneurship and explore ideas.

Contact Juste about:

exploring entrepreneurship
how to develop an idea
how UCL can support your entrepreneurial journey through our programmes

Before joining UCL, Juste ran marketing and enterprise programmes at the University of Westminster. She holds a BA in Marketing and has extensive experience in fostering entrepreneurial talent and supporting early-stage founders.

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.

Contact Jivko to:

discuss the potential of your business idea
discuss how UCL can support your business venture
find out about the support UCL provides to international students to start a business

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

Kiran is on leave until September 2025. Please contact Molly Casey in Kiran's absence.

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.