Paul Norris

Business Adviser - Enterprise Specialist

Paul started out in Electrical & Mechanical Engineering before a change of direction took him into a successful career in Financial Services at Senior Management level.In addition to running his own business support company since 2000, Paul has been a Non-Executive Director of several other businesses. He has experience in scaling businesses, building markets, developing new products and nurturing high performing teams.

Marc Appleton

Senior Business Growth Adviser

As a Senior Business Advisor specialising in scale-up strategy, Marc brings over two decades of real-world commercial and leadership experience to his work with ambitious SMEs. He has led ten successful scale-up programmes across Greater Manchester, supporting more than 200 businesses through the challenges of growth over the last five years.Before moving into business support, Marc spent several years as part of the senior leadership team at a UK-wide company with an annual turnover of approximately £80 million. This hands-on industry experience gives Marc a deep understanding of the strategic, operational, and cultural levers required to achieve and sustain scale.

Belinda Carp

Business Adviser Innovation Specialist

Belinda is an Innovation Specialist with an interest in raising awareness of, and reducing where possible, the environment impact of activities. Belinda enjoys working with clients to identify where they need support, and to create a comprehensive plan for the development and commercialisation of their innovations – helping them to build on firm foundations and achieve the results they want.

In the past, Belinda has freelanced as a business consultant, helping textile and clothing companies with their sustainability communications and international connections.

Tony Ayin

Business Adviser Innovation Specialist

Tony’s passion is helping businesses of all sizes grow through a focus on their people, business challenges and embracing technological advances. Tony has worked with some inspiring leaders in the last decade, developing their entrepreneurial mindsets which he has found so rewarding. After a career in Sales and Partnerships selling to every sector except nuclear, Tony has travelled the UK and across Europe winning contracts at companies such as Nissan, EDF Energy, Telefonica, Apple, Asda, NatWest Group plc, United Utilities, Telent, John Lewis Group plc, Vodafone (Belgium), G4S, MOD, and Telent. (formerly Carillion Telent). .

James Foggon

Innovation Specialist

James loves helping clients visualise the true potential of their ventures, helping them expand on their ideas to maximise potential opportunities and to understand how best to achieve monetisation. In the past James has worked for large SME’s providing product and services to major blue-chip companies such as Asda, Tesco, and Whitbread within the retail, hospitality and leisure, and green energy sectors, amongst others.

James’s biggest achievements include awards won for service delivery, and lead generation, playing a pivotal role in scaling a large SME through to acquisition as part of a deal worth $350M, as well as designing, developing and commercialising several new products.

Ian Dixon

Head of Access to Finance

Ian is a qualified Chartered Accountant with extensive commercial experience and leads the BGH Access To Finance team. A recognised thought leader and regular investment panellist, Ian has an in-depth knowledge of all forms of SME finance. Currently, Ian supports clients and colleagues working on equity fundraising, providing insights, knowledge and guidance on the understanding of assessment criteria, eligibility and the processes involved in successfully raising funds.

Adam Clayton

Business Adviser - Access to Finance Specialist

Previously working at NatWest for 15 years, Adam has great experience of working with businesses at all levels from startup to commercial level. Enterprise support and helping scaling businesses overcome barriers is his key objective. Adam frequently runs workshops supporting businesses, especially around the investment journey support. He has a great network across Greater Manchester and is always keen to expand this and meet new business.

Emma Connolly

Business Adviser -  Workforce Development

Emma is a Workforce Development specialist for Stockport, working closely with local businesses to shape and strengthen their organisational development strategies. Emma’s role supports employers in aligning people practices with business growth objectives. Prior to this role, Emma served as Wellbeing Specialist at the GM Business Growth Hub, where she guided organisations in enhancing workforce wellbeing and leadership capability. 

Jo Lord

Leadership, Skills and Social Impact Specialist

Jo is an experienced Organisational Development Professional, Leadership Specialist & Coach who has spent over 25 years working with private, public and third sector organisations in a wide variety of sectors. 
Jo specialises in delivering leadership and culture change programmes in both large and small organisations, as well as supporting organisations to develop a values-led approach to organisational Leadership and people development.

Angelina Harrop

Business Adviser - Workforce Development

Anglina’s background is rooted in education and skills development, and brings a practical, down-to-earth perspective to the challenges businesses face, especially as she is also a small business owner. Angelina understands the pressures and opportunities that come with running a business, which helps her connect with clients in a way that’s both relatable and results driven.

Most recently, Angelina completed a Level 6 Apprenticeship in Chartered Management, achieving a distinction in the apprenticeship and a first-class honours degree. The experience has deepened her understanding of strategic leadership and organisational development, and she is passionate about sharing that knowledge to help others grow.

Edy Heng

Global Scale-Up Specialist

With 20+ years’ experience at Fortune100 (SAP, Johnson & Johnson) and technology startups in the US, UK, Singapore, Japan, ASEAN and four international patents in visual semantic AI, Edy Heng offers coherent and strategic views of the world of technology, business and international trade through his experience across countries in multi-stage and multi-national companies.

Ishan Dutta

Global Scale-Up Specialist

Ishan has a master’s degree from Oxford in PPE and an MBA from INSEAD, France. He worked for 10 years at L’Oreal, where he managed businesses and brands across a variety of markets and channels. A notable highlight was launching L’Oreal Professional Division in India from scratch and taking it to market leadership inside 3 years. He then moved to Singapore and worked as Asia Pacific head for several multinationals, including Essilor, Symantec and Henkel. During this time, he travelled extensively across Asia managing plans and strategies, from Beijing to Sydney to Osaka and Yangon.

In 2016 he started his own e-commerce business based out of Los Angeles. Today his brand is well known among hairdressers in the US and has won several awards for product innovation. Ishan moved back to the UK in 2021 and works with small and medium sized businesses, helping them to grow their international sales.

Chris Manka

Senior Adviser - Manufacturing, Supply Chain and International

Chris Manka specialises in supply chain and international trade. With a background in marketing, Chris has enjoyed a career in small, medium sized enterprises, mainly in the manufacturing sector. Chris has experience of working in the Middle East, Asia and across Europe, developing products and components that required navigating complex supply chains to get the finished product to market.

Nadir Sultan

Business Adviser - Social Value Specialist

Prior to his role as a Social Value Specialist, Nadir was working as a Senior Social Value Advisor at The Social Value Portal where he helped to embed the National TOMs framework into local authority procurement across the country. Nadir has vast experience in working with commissioners, procurement teams and businesses to understand, embed and think about social value in their everyday working lives.