Antonia

Name
Antonia

Position
Non-Executive Director / Board Advisor / Mentor

Location
Edinburgh

Big Business Experience

University of Hull

QinetiQ

Small Business Experience

IceRobotics Ltd

Cartermill Ltd

Summary

Antonia is passionate about helping entrepreneurs develop sustainable, innovative businesses with high growth potential. She has over 25 years’ experience across the private, public and HE sectors and is a member of Investing Women Angels.

In addition to many years’ experience supporting mainly tech-based SMEs, Antonia has co-founded and grown an award-winning technology start-up which developed a data analytics and cloud-based solution for a traditional market sector, initially in the UK and then internationally. Antonia understands the strategic and operational issues faced by young, growing companies and brings a pragmatic and focused contribution to help achieve clearly defined business goals.

Qualifications

  • BSc (hons) Science with Industrial Studies – Napier University (1989)
  • MBA – University of Edinburgh (2004)

Key Areas of Expertise

  • Founder, Managing Director, Board, NED and Business Angel experience
  • Early stage and scale-up SMEs, especially tech-based
  • Strategic focus, implementation planning and performance monitoring
  • Organisational culture and high-performing teams
  • Process design and implementation
  • Business model and route to market
  • Customer and user experience
  • Developing and managing collaborative, externally funded projects
  • Investment pitches

Experience

Business founder, Managing Director, Board, NED and Business Angel experience

Co-founder, MD and Director of technology SME. The company develops novel sensors and data-analytics services for a traditional market sector, with sales to over 20 countries and a dispersed international team. Extensive experience in all aspects of the business at strategic and operational areas, from early concept stage, through commercialisation, growth and internationalisation.

Support to entrepreneurs and early stage SMEs:  varied experience working with mainly tech-based SMEs across a variety of sectors, including strategy development, business plan review, business model development, team and culture development, technology transfer and commercialisation, product/service development

Investment: reviewing proposals from an investor perspective; developing and delivering investment pitches

Collaborative and externally funded projects: experience in writing successful funding bids, managing multi-partner/multinational collaborative R&D and innovation projects; supporting companies and university researchers to identify suitable funding sources and writing successful funding bids; member of advisory group assessing regional projects for European funding

International: experience living and working in mainland Europe; developing new territories; building and managing a geographically dispersed team and managing an international client base.