Centre for Entrepreneurship Launch with keynote speaker Deborah Meaden

Event details

Date: Thursday 10 October 2019

Time: 18.30 - 20.45

Location: Newman Blue Lecture Theatre, Peter Chalk Centre, University of Exeter, Streatham Campus, EX4 4QD

The new University of Exeter Business School Centre for Entrepreneurship

The new University of Exeter Business School Centre for Entrepreneurship is built to enable entrepreneurs to be successful in creating positive change. It encompasses the already very successful Student Startup Office and the Business School’s Entrepreneurship faculty and brings them together to both do entrepreneurship and create world leading thinking that will inform the future of business.

To celebrate the launch of the centre, please join us for drinks and networking followed by a public lecture by Deborah Meaden on “The Entrepreneurs Role in Society” with a Q&A session. Introductions to the centre will be presented by Professor Erno Tornikoski, Director, Centre for Entrepreneurship, and Joe Pearce, Deputy Director, Centre for Entrepreneurship.  

Deborah Meaden – Biography

Deborah is a highly successful business woman and entrepreneur and one of the most popular investors on the BBC’s Dragons Den. 

Deborah launched her own glass and ceramics export company straight out of Business College and then went on to set up one of the first Stefanel fashion franchises in the UK.  With several successful businesses in the leisure and retail sector under her belt, Deborah became Managing Director of the holiday park business Westar Holidays, acquired the major shareholding in a management buyout and later sold the company in a deal with Phoenix Equity Partners worth £33million whilst retaining a 23% stake.  Following this, Deborah continued to innovate and develop the company, selling her remaining shares when the business was sold to Parkdean Holidays for £83m.

Deborah first appeared on Dragons’ Den in Series 3 and is known as a shrewd and reasonable Dragon.  The show has led her to invest and advise in all manner of businesses leading to a wide-ranging portfolio covering a variety of sectors from research and fashion to DIY and food. She continues to invest in Businesses outside of Dragons Den and most famously saved Fox Brothers, Somerset’s oldest textile mill which now exports across the globe.

Deborah supports ethical, fair practice both in business and in life believing that taking care of the environment and wildlife is essential for our future security and wellbeing.  She is actively involved in numerous charities and is a Fellow of the WWF, a Trustee of Tusk Trust and Ambassador for Micro-loan Foundation, Marine Conservation Society and World Horse Welfare amongst others. She has recently been invited to become a CIWF Compassion Visionary.

Registration

Graduates / alumni - Please register here

Other guests  - Please register here

If you have any questions regarding the event please contact business-school-events@exeter.ac.uk