Our staff Abim Olabinjo, Chief Executive Abim has been Chief Executive of the PBC since 1998. He holds a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Hull and has run his own successful business which he sold. Despite his many commitments, he continues to support and advise a portfolio of small business clients. email: abim@pbc.co.uk
Maria Stammers, Senior Business Adviser Maria, who has an MBA from the Open University, has been a Business Adviser at the centre since 1998. Previously, she worked for Instant Muscle which supports unemployed people who want to become self-employed, ran an interior design business and a costume jewellery retail business. Maria handles the Shell LiveWIRE and Prince's Trust awards and has a particular expertise in Fashion. email: maria@pbc.co.uk
Colin Rutt, Business Adviser Colin joined the PBC as an Adviser in June 2001. His areas of special knowledge include business planning, raising finance in the shape of grants and loans, sales and marketing in the UK and overseas as well as experience in international trade matters. email: colin@pbc.co.uk
David Jones, Consultant David has worked in the fashion industry for 40 years and for the last 15 years has run his own consultancy specialising in fashion. He leads the PBC's fashion training courses and gives advice and assistance on all aspects of the fashion business to PBC clients. David is a Fellow of the Clothing and Footwear Institute and of the British Institute of Management. email: david@pbc.co.uk
Joseph Jesuloba, Consultant Joseph is an independent consultant and has been a mentor, consultant and business adviser to various business start-ups in the London area. His special area of interest is information and communications technology. He holds an MBA from the University of Warwick. email: joseph@pbc.co.uk
Boomy Tokan, Consultant Boomy currently lectures at City University on the Cultural Industries Foundation Degree program as well as running the Work Placement Scheme linked with the program which is designed to get students into employment. He has also lectured at City and Islington College, South Thames College, Kingsway College, and Guildhall University on Music Business. As a label owner himself with about 20 year’s experience, he addresses Music Business issues from a personal and experiential viewpoint. With his additional knowledge of other business environments, Boomy believes in “Importing Ideas” from those sectors into the Music Business arena. Boomy now heads the Music Business team here at the Portobello Business Centre. Email: boomy@pbc.co.uk
Bill Lake, Consultant Bill trained as an engineer and worked in industry for five years before gaining his MBA at Harvard Business School and moving into consultancy. He has carried out over 50 consultancy assignments for PBC clients in a wide range of sectors. His specialist areas are marketing, finance and business planning. email: pbc@pbc.co.uk
Helene Panzarino, Consultant Helene, who has an MBA, worked in commercial banking in New York before setting up the UK office of a US software house. She founded her own English language school in London in 1997. After selling this business in 1997, she moved into providing support and advice to UK firms and US firms planning to set up in the UK. email: helene@pbc.co.uk
Carolyn Johnston, Consultant Carolyn has a degree in business studies and specialises in providing market research solutions. She worked with Yorkshire Television and McKinsey Management Consultants before moving to Japan to work for Marplan Japan. Carolyn set up her own consultancy in 1990. She has helped a wide variety of clients around the world to create marketing strategies. She has also lectured for the Market Research Society Diploma in Market Research. email: pbc@pbc.co.uk
Kevin Dodman, Consultant Kevin trained as an engineer and worked in the engineering and international technical publishing industries. He holds an MBA and has been an independent consultant for over 10 years on business research, strategic planning, sales promotion, media relations and operational assistance. He has advised and invested in several start-up businesses. His specialist areas are business-to-business market research and commercial due diligence. email: pbc@pbc.co.uk
Laurie Bernard, Consultant Laurie is a business studies and marketing graduate (Dip.M and MCIM) experienced in developing businesses in the retail and service sectors. He has run his own business development consultancy for over ten years. He is now an approved government business mentor, councillor and dynamic trainer. email: laurie@pbc.co.uk
Stephen Omotomilola , Consultant Project Manager / Web Developer Stephen manages and co-ordinates the Business Centre's projects and contracts, and is in charge of the design and development of the PBC website. He is responsible the TraintoGain and similar funded projects. He has more than 11 years business management experience running his own consultancy business as well as an events management business. email: stephen@pbc.co.uk
Rebecca Davey, Office manager Rebecca is the PBC's Office Manager and works 3 days a week. She has been with the Business Centre for 15 years. She runs the PDT Advancing Women contract, manages the quality standard ISO9001 and Investors In People. email: rebecca@pbc.co.uk
Kofi Asante - Contract Administrator Kofi joined the PBC in November 2007 after 3 and half years as a retail manager. He is responsible for updating consultancy files and projects, online candidates, Internal and External verications and general administrative tasks email: kofi@pbc.co.uk Jenni Mullings, Administrator Jenni has been working at the Business Centre since September 2000. In August 2002, she took over the responsibilities of our HR issues and studied for her Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resources Management. Having graduated in June 2004, she is now fully CIPD qualified. She also administers the PBC's training courses and is responsible for the management of the loan & grant schemes. She was previously Head of Guest Relations at the BBC Club. email: jenni@pbc.co.uk
Norman Lamb, Business Development Officer Norman is responsible for outreach activity, liaising with related organisations and banks and raising awareness of the Business Centre among core target groups. He also works to increase the number of new client enquiries. He previously owned and managed his own business and worked for the North Kensington Opportunities Centre. email: norman@pbc.co.uk
Kris Mehnon, Consultant Accountant, BSc Economics, CA and ACMA Kris has been running a financial consultancy practice for SMEs since 1993 and he has been working as a consultant with the PBC since 1996. Previously he had six years experience in senior management in corporate finance and general management. He has also served as a director and trustee of commercial companies and charities and is responsible for a family investment company with £30m of assets and an international portfolio. He provides Business Centre clients with a free one hour advice session on accounting, taxation and business development matters. He advises on accountancy and tax, business planning, strategic development, raising equity, capital restructuring and on sourcing worldwide manufacturing facilities for designer products. email: pbc@pbc.co.uk
Christopher Stone FCA, consultant Christopher is a business consultant who advises a variety of small businesses and provides both hands-on and mentoring advice. He has previously worked as a partner in a medium sized city firm of chartered accountants, as a finance director of a PLC and with a venture capital firm email: pbc@pbc.co.uk