Speakers
Chris Oliver
Investment Principal, Oxford Innovation Finance
Dawn Bébe
Co-CEO, Crowdfunder
Mhairi Ambler
Head of Knowledge Exchange & Impact, Falmouth University
Rachel Thomson
Business Manager, Swig Finance
Sarah Preece
Councillor, Cornwall Council
Yasmin Jones-Henry
Writer & Founder of The Lab E20, Financial Times
x
Chris Oliver
Investment Principal, Oxford Innovation Finance
Chris has worked in a number of different fields of finance within the last 15 years, operating within Fund Management, Private Equity, Business Advisory & Audit. He has spent the past 8 years predominantly working with early-stage companies to secure investment. Now as the Investment Principal at Oxford Innovation Finance, he covers the Oxford Investment Opportunity Network (OION), the Oxford Innovation EIS Growth Fund, and the CIoS focused Beacon Fund; harnessing his experience to identify tomorrow’s breakthrough businesses and support them in raising the investment they need to fuel the next stage of their journey. Chris has a degree in Business Economics from the University of Leicester and holds a certificate in Corporate Finance via the Chartered Institute of Securities & Investment.
x
Dawn Bébe
Co-CEO, Crowdfunder
Dawn Bébe is a founder and director of Crowdfunder.co.uk, the UK’s #1 rewards crowdfunding platform.
As a CoCEO of Crowdfunder, Dawn has been part of the leadership team driving it towards raising > £500 million for projects across the UK, and responsible for helping it win global awards for the delivery of its mission to tackle society’s challenges by making grass roots ideas happen. She was also instrumental to the launch of Crowdfunder.com in the USA in 2025.
Dawn has worked in creative industries for over 30 years, primarily as a journalist and media entrepreneur. Her CV includes launch director of UK Grazia, the world’s biggest selling fashion magazine, publisher of Red Magazine and rookie reporter on Just Seventeen. As well as winning top industry awards like PPA Editor of The Year, Dawn has been featured in The Times, Daily Mail and FT. Dawn was also the Managing Director of the Hachette-Emap Joint Venture and advised Tony Blair’s strategic communication unit.
Committed to supporting creative industries at every level, Dawn is a trustee of Theatre Royal Plymouth and film company, Cornwall Climate Care. She was a board director of The Plymouth Culture Board.
As a CoCEO of Crowdfunder, Dawn has been part of the leadership team driving it towards raising > £500 million for projects across the UK, and responsible for helping it win global awards for the delivery of its mission to tackle society’s challenges by making grass roots ideas happen. She was also instrumental to the launch of Crowdfunder.com in the USA in 2025.
Dawn has worked in creative industries for over 30 years, primarily as a journalist and media entrepreneur. Her CV includes launch director of UK Grazia, the world’s biggest selling fashion magazine, publisher of Red Magazine and rookie reporter on Just Seventeen. As well as winning top industry awards like PPA Editor of The Year, Dawn has been featured in The Times, Daily Mail and FT. Dawn was also the Managing Director of the Hachette-Emap Joint Venture and advised Tony Blair’s strategic communication unit.
Committed to supporting creative industries at every level, Dawn is a trustee of Theatre Royal Plymouth and film company, Cornwall Climate Care. She was a board director of The Plymouth Culture Board.
x
Mhairi Ambler
Head of Knowledge Exchange & Impact, Falmouth University
Mhairi is a cross-disciplinary leader whose career has spanned urban cultures, international collaboration, research strategy, and creative technology. She holds a Masters in European Urban Cultures, a programme that explores the connections between the arts, design, urban planning, public policy, and cultural management, culminating in a comparative study of urban beach environments.
She began her career leading the European and International team at Bristol City Council, where she played a pivotal role in strengthening the city’s global partnerships and positioning Bristol as a recognised leader in sustainability and urban innovation. Her work contributed to major international collaborations, high‑profile city accolades, and Bristol’s active engagement in global urban governance networks.
At Falmouth University, Mhairi has supported strategic research development, including co-ordination of institution’s Research Excellence Framework submission. She also undertook a secondment with the Arts and Humanities Research Council, driving forward the development of a flagship national investment programme in Convergent Screen Technologies and Performance in Realtime (CoSTAR).
In her current role as Head of Knowledge Exchange & Impact, Mhairi helps shape and deliver Falmouth University’s ambition to lead at the intersection of creativity and technology, fostering partnerships, innovation, and real‑world impact across the creative industries.
She began her career leading the European and International team at Bristol City Council, where she played a pivotal role in strengthening the city’s global partnerships and positioning Bristol as a recognised leader in sustainability and urban innovation. Her work contributed to major international collaborations, high‑profile city accolades, and Bristol’s active engagement in global urban governance networks.
At Falmouth University, Mhairi has supported strategic research development, including co-ordination of institution’s Research Excellence Framework submission. She also undertook a secondment with the Arts and Humanities Research Council, driving forward the development of a flagship national investment programme in Convergent Screen Technologies and Performance in Realtime (CoSTAR).
In her current role as Head of Knowledge Exchange & Impact, Mhairi helps shape and deliver Falmouth University’s ambition to lead at the intersection of creativity and technology, fostering partnerships, innovation, and real‑world impact across the creative industries.
x
Rachel Thomson
Business Manager, Swig Finance
I am an experienced commercial lending & relationship manager, helping businesses in Cornwall, Isles of Scilly and the South West region to prosper & succeed.
I live & work in Cornwall & love this area & being involved with my local community. I understand Cornwall & the positives of this beautiful county & challenges businesses face.
I am genuinely interested in businesses & the people who run them & care about helping them to prosper & succeed which benefits our community.
I live & work in Cornwall & love this area & being involved with my local community. I understand Cornwall & the positives of this beautiful county & challenges businesses face.
I am genuinely interested in businesses & the people who run them & care about helping them to prosper & succeed which benefits our community.
x
Sarah Preece
Councillor, Cornwall Council
Cllr Sarah Preece is a Cornwall Councillor, cabinet member and portfolio holder for tourism, localism and planning.
Culture sits within her localism brief alongside leisure, libraries, Cornish language, digital inclusion, the voluntary sector, town and parish councils and registrars.
Sarah was elected as divisional member for Lostwithiel and Lanreath in south east Cornwall in May 2025 after a 25-year career leading some of the top UK organisations. Sarah worked as Finance Director at the Royal Court Theatre, Executive Director at Battersea Arts Centre and was an Olivier award winning Joint CEO at Mountview Drama School.
Sarah is, by profession, an organisational developer and applies her expertise in civic, community and industry contexts.
Sarah takes a whole system approach to her work in acknowledgment of the interconnected, systemic nature of organisations and organisational issues.
Sarah's portfolio centres around people, place and partnerships. She seeks opportunities to promote culture, connect communities, and develop policies and approaches that unlock potential.
She is leading on the development of a new Cultural Strategy for Cornwall to 2030 and a new Cornwall Local Plan that will define the policies underpinning planning in Cornwall until 2050.
Sarah sits on the Fifth Nation Working Group and Bord Ertach Kernow which seek to promote Cornwall's identity as a Celtic Nation with its unique minority status and formally recognised language.
Having grown up in the Westcountry, Sarah migrated for work and after 30 years in London, came back west and is proud to now call Cornwall her home.
Culture sits within her localism brief alongside leisure, libraries, Cornish language, digital inclusion, the voluntary sector, town and parish councils and registrars.
Sarah was elected as divisional member for Lostwithiel and Lanreath in south east Cornwall in May 2025 after a 25-year career leading some of the top UK organisations. Sarah worked as Finance Director at the Royal Court Theatre, Executive Director at Battersea Arts Centre and was an Olivier award winning Joint CEO at Mountview Drama School.
Sarah is, by profession, an organisational developer and applies her expertise in civic, community and industry contexts.
Sarah takes a whole system approach to her work in acknowledgment of the interconnected, systemic nature of organisations and organisational issues.
Sarah's portfolio centres around people, place and partnerships. She seeks opportunities to promote culture, connect communities, and develop policies and approaches that unlock potential.
She is leading on the development of a new Cultural Strategy for Cornwall to 2030 and a new Cornwall Local Plan that will define the policies underpinning planning in Cornwall until 2050.
Sarah sits on the Fifth Nation Working Group and Bord Ertach Kernow which seek to promote Cornwall's identity as a Celtic Nation with its unique minority status and formally recognised language.
Having grown up in the Westcountry, Sarah migrated for work and after 30 years in London, came back west and is proud to now call Cornwall her home.
x
Yasmin Jones-Henry
Writer & Founder of The Lab E20, Financial Times
Yasmin Jones-Henry is a Financial Times Writer, Cultural Placeshaping Strategist and Co-founder The Lab E20.
Yasmin has built a reputation as a cultural and communications thought leader on the importance of culture, creative enterprise and regenerative design principles in delivering both economic and social value. Her expertise in research, tracking investment trends and translating the power of culture and commerce is borne out of her previous experience working for the Financial Times where she developed her specialisms in foreign direct investment, ESG and design.
With a joint honours degree in Classical Literature and English Literature from the University of Birmingham, Yasmin has a passion for storytelling and inclusive design, that covers everything from ethical fashion to regenerative urban design, as both carry the legacy of community, craft and the power of collective creativity.
As the founder of Urban Flow Designs Ltd and The Collective, a network of cultural innovators across the creative industries, Yasmin integrates the value of the insights gained as an FT writer, her extensive network of investors, creative entrepreneurs, designers and cultural practitioners into the consultancy and strategies she delivers for clients committed to sustainable and inclusive regeneration and urban design.
As a senior strategist, Yasmin has written and delivered a diverse portfolio of cultural placeshaping and public art strategies across the UK. Working across investment, real estate, the creative industries and public art, Yasmin is committed to demonstrating the power of culture and co-creation as catalysts to unlocking inclusive regeneration and positive growth.
Yasmin has built a reputation as a cultural and communications thought leader on the importance of culture, creative enterprise and regenerative design principles in delivering both economic and social value. Her expertise in research, tracking investment trends and translating the power of culture and commerce is borne out of her previous experience working for the Financial Times where she developed her specialisms in foreign direct investment, ESG and design.
With a joint honours degree in Classical Literature and English Literature from the University of Birmingham, Yasmin has a passion for storytelling and inclusive design, that covers everything from ethical fashion to regenerative urban design, as both carry the legacy of community, craft and the power of collective creativity.
As the founder of Urban Flow Designs Ltd and The Collective, a network of cultural innovators across the creative industries, Yasmin integrates the value of the insights gained as an FT writer, her extensive network of investors, creative entrepreneurs, designers and cultural practitioners into the consultancy and strategies she delivers for clients committed to sustainable and inclusive regeneration and urban design.
As a senior strategist, Yasmin has written and delivered a diverse portfolio of cultural placeshaping and public art strategies across the UK. Working across investment, real estate, the creative industries and public art, Yasmin is committed to demonstrating the power of culture and co-creation as catalysts to unlocking inclusive regeneration and positive growth.
.png?width=500&height=188&name=Create%20Growth%20Programme%20white%20logo%20800%20x%20300%20%20(1).png "Create Growth Programme white logo 800 x 300 (1)")
.png?width=380&height=143&name=DCMS%20logo%20white%20800%20x%20300%20(1).png "DCMS logo white 800 x 300 (1)")
.png?width=300&height=171&name=investment%20-%20logos%20for%20website-13%20(1).png "investment - logos for website-13 (1)")
Eyebrow Lorem
Educational Keynotes
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Donec odio.
Quisque volutpat mattis eros. Nullam malesuada erat ut turpis.
Quisque volutpat mattis eros. Nullam malesuada erat ut turpis.
