Speakers

We’re not about the ordinary, we’re about the extraordinary. You won’t find speakers at our Conference who are ‘on the circuit’. You won’t find speakers who you’ve already heard at many other events.

Who you hear will inspire you with unique, engaging stories far from the norm of many entrepreneurial events and SME business conferences. There will be a 5 minute Q & A afterwards to give you the opportunity to ask questions to each speaker.

MEET OUR SPEAKERS

DR POONAM GUPTA OBE

Dr Poonam Gupta OBE is a leading UK entrepreneur and CEO of one of Scotland’s most successful export businesses, PG Paper. Her portfolio of companies now has an annual turnover of circa $100 million, operating in over 60 countries, with offices in India, the US, China, Sweden, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. With a career-long interest in strengthening and enabling greater collaboration between Scotland and India; Poonam led a successful Scottish Chambers Task Force to India in 2019. She has been recognised as one of the ‘100 Most Influential in UK-India Relations’ by India Inc Group. Poonam is currently Chair of the Manufacturing Sector Committee of the FICCI UK Council, the largest and oldest apex business organisation in India.

Poonam is Vice President of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce and her entrepreneurial and business efforts have also been acknowledged by her peer group and the industry at large; for which she has received several business awards; most recently Ernst & Young’s ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ in 2019. In recognition for her service to charity and business, she was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen’s New Year Honours List in 2016. Poonam is a benefactor of a number of local, national and international charities; with a particular focus on woman-centric issues, disadvantaged children, gender equality and animal conservation.

CAMERON JOHNSTON

Cameron Johnston is the inventor and Founder of Riixo – a wearable compression sleeve that uses ice or heat to speed up muscle recovery in sport as well as aiding soft tissue recovery – used by Manchester United, Newcastle United Football Club, British Cycling and British Masters Athletics to name but a few. A former professional rugby player for Scotland Under 21s, Cameron broke his back whilst playing, subsequently become a qualified physiotherapist and served in the British Army for over 8 years before inventing Riixo.

ALEX BROWN

Alex Brown is the Managing Director of NorDan UK, one of Europe’s leading sustainable manufacturers of high performance windows. Winners of our 2023 High Growth Award. A family-owned business, founded in Norway nearly 100 years ago, Alex has led the business in the UK and Europe since 2009 and since 2020, the business has almost doubled turnover and profit to £76.3M.

Alex believes that much of this success is down to imbedding an inclusive culture which recognises the importance of team-working and the creation of a talent management programme. Alex also sits on the Group family Board and previously held the position of Chairman at the Scottish Norwegian business forum. He is also the founder of the Blue Eyes Sports Foundation which supports children to get involved in sport and was the founder of a joinery manufacturing business which he sold in 2007, 14 years from inception.

VIKKI BRUCE

Vikki Bruce is co-founder and Managing Director of MacLean & Bruce, Scotland’s leading luxury whisky travel specialists, creating unique whisky access and bespoke luxury experiences for global clients. Vikki established the company in 2012 with renowned whisky expert Charles MacLean MBE after creating a whisky tour of Scotland for a visiting Royal.

Pivoting into cask trading during COVID-19 built up a second revenue stream for the business, and these two were joined in the summer of 2023 when Auld Bond Bottlers, a bonded warehouse and bottling facility in Perth was launched, a project which Vikki is one of three founders and shareholders. The entry into the cask market, an area rife with fraud, led to the formation of the fourth and final business, CaskNet. CaskNet is a simple cask register which aims to give verification and authentication in this relatively newly emerged market, which is currently referred to as “The Wild West.’

Additionally, Vikki is a Founding Community Leader and Event Director at Conscious Leaders Scotland, bringing together purpose-driven, stakeholder-first businesses which believe prosperity and growing people should be harmonious.

ADAM BASTOCK

Adam Bastock is the founder of Small99. Small99 breaks down the journey for micro and small businesses to net zero into a series of manageable, bite size steps to follow. Having spent a decade working with and in small businesses, he understands the challenges owners have with limited resources and time.

Most business owners feel overwhelmed with the amount of information about net zero; much of the existing net zero guidance is focused on larger organisations. In trying to do the right thing, many founders have been left with information overload or trying to follow inappropriate guidance. Small99 was founded to cut through the noise and get owners to take action, with a goal to guide 1 million small businesses to net zero by 2025.

For larger organisations, Small99 runs workshops and talks to engage audiences and build confidence with Net Zero so that they can construct their own reduction pathways. With 99% of the economy made up of small businesses, Small99 provides practical guidance on how they can reach net zero quickly and accelerate the transition to net zero.

IAN McLEOD KERR

Ian McLeod Kerr is the founder and CEO of Raven Controls and the winner of our 2023 International Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He founded Raven Controls in 2018 having previously served with Police Scotland within Emergencies and Counter Terrorist Planning where he gained deep insight into the events sector. Raven Controls is revolutionising the safety and security of the events market by providing digital incident management software protecting the words leading venues, brands and teams. UK venues using Raven include Manchester Arena and SSE Wembley Arena. Globally, clients include Ziggo Dome Amsterdam, UEFA, the Ryder Cup, ASM Global (the largest venue and arena operator in the world) and Live Nation. Raven software is additionally deployed in many countries including the USA, Sweden, Saudi Arabia and China.