Our people

Juliet Hope

Chief Executive

T: 07785 732115
E: jhope@startupnow.org.uk

Juliet was responsible for setting up Startup as a pilot project under the Royal London Society. Juliet’s career had been in investment banking, working for NM Rothschild as a fund manager in Asian Equities based in Hong Kong, Japan and later in London’s Emerging Markets team. Juliet as CEO and Head of Governance has overall responsibility for the management and strategic development of Startup as well as developing sustainable income streams.

Malcolm Horsman

Business Adviser

T: 01844 216678
E: mhorsman@startupnow.org.uk

Malcolm is a Client business adviser and Chair of Startup’s Approval Committee. He has had many years of practical business experience and has an MA in Law. He was a visiting Fellow at Cranfield University for 20 years, specifically involved with the Entrepreneurship and New Venture course. He was also a member of Council of the Oxford Centre of Management Studies/Templeton College for 10 years.

Gill Ryan

Client Support Manager

T: 01844 216678
E: gryan@startupnow.org.uk

Gill joined Startup in September 2010 as the Client Administrator based in the Oxford office. She has spent many years in a sales environment and has vast experience supporting clients/customers on all levels. These roles have given Gill the valuable experience and skills to provide a strong administrative support for the Startup team.

Gill is the point of contact for both current and prospective clients.

Tanya Tracey

Peer Mentor Manager

T: 07918 680009
E: ttracey@startupnow.org.uk

Tanya joined Startup in April 2011 as the Peer Mentor Manager. She has spent over five years working with disadvantaged groups, three of which has been with offenders and ex-offenders. She has a degree in Psychology and invaluable experience with organisations such as Women In Prison, Clean Break, NACRO and has helped loan parents into self-employment with Reed In Partnership. Most recently she worked as an Employer Engagement Co-ordinator with young offenders. She will be working with clients, giving support to peer mentoring including training, drop in clinics, workshops and more.

Emma Mobbs

Development Manager

E: emobbs@startupnow.org.uk


Emma joined Startup in November 2010 as the Development Manager. She has many years' experience in the communications industry and over the past ten years has been involved in fundraising and communications for a number of charities. She will be working to secure funding for Startup's support of clients and future development of services.

Mari Simpson

Mentor Consultant

T: 01730 818337
E: msimpson@startupnow.org.uk

Mari joined Startup in its early days, she brought her years of experience in International Human Resource consulting for PricewaterhouseCoopers where she ran the International Assignment Policy team and was instrumental in developing and managing the Startup mentoring network. She is now working as a consultant for Startup and will continue to offer valuable support to the team in getting new clients into self-employment.

Christopher Hope

Business Director, Christopher Hope, died over the summer. He was involved with Startup from the beginning and was integral in developing our model of delivery. He has left a legacy of systems and procedures which are central to the success of Startup’s delivery and an enormous number of successful Clients were grateful for his calm support and business expertise. Christopher’s death wasn’t entirely unexpected and whilst personally he is impossible to replace, the on- going work of Startup continues.

Business Advisers

We have Business Adviser based in the Thames Valley, London, in the South East and in the Midlands covering the North of England. Our Business Advisers cover most of the prisons in the women's estate and many in the men's.

Startup is fortunate to also have wide range of experienced pro bono business advisers from a variety of backgrounds. They offer their expertise to individual clients when needed.

Startup holds an Approval Committee on a regular basis to assess business proposals from potential clients. The attached business plan template is used in initial assessment by Startup Business Advisers.

Anyone interested in putting forward their business idea can send this completed form to Gill Ryan or contact her directly on 01844 216678 or email gryan@startupnow.org.uk.