Julie Robinson - Footprints Accountancy

Jill White joined the Research and Innovation Office team in 2010 having been involved in coaching, mentoring and advising start ups and existing businesses for a number of years.

Jill has been self employed since September 1994 and has a real passion for young entrepreneurs and women in business. She is a board member of Inspiring Women, Common Purpose and Whirlow Hall Farm Trust and has strong networks across the business community.

Meeting the right people at the right time is critical to any new business venture and Jill is able to utilise the many contacts she has made over the years on behalf of Hatchery students to provide speedy introductions and ensure start up businesses make the right connections from day one.
Jill is inspired by the talent, creativity, passion and persistence of start up entrepreneurs and looks to promote Hatchery businesses at every opportunity as well as introducing young entrepreneurs to relevant networks and encouraging them to be active members of the thriving business community.

Karen joined the Research and Innovation Office in 2010. She has a scientific background, working for both the NHS and in research institutes for several years before moving into product management and technology transfer roles. She successfully increased the turnover of the life sciences business at ICRT (now Cancer Research UK) more than four-fold in four years.

She has also worked at the University of Bedfordshire, leading the University's enterprise and entrepreneurship agenda, and most recently as the business incubation manager at Sheffield Technology Parks (STP), supporting young companies as well as driving business development and marketing at STP itself.

Karen has a wealth of project management experience to pass on to Hatchery members and has been supporting business start-up for about 10 years. She is Women's Ambassador in the East of England, a self-employed business consultant and also works as a school enterprise champion for Sheffield City Council.

If you want to know how to promote your business to potential clients, our marketing advisor Tracy Viner can help.

Before starting her own business, Tracy worked in many different organisations including seven years as a fundraising manager for Macmillan Cancer Support, which raised over £2.5 million in the local area. She is currently working for the Cathedral Archer Project, a homeless day centre, as their Marketing and Development Manager.

She is currently a member of the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce Council, a trustee for Youth Associations of South Yorkshire, and is a past president of JCI Sheffield.

Tracy's company, Tracy Viner Limited, helps businesses (regardless of size), to develop the best marketing strategy possible in order to maximise their potential.

Sue Smith, a solicitor with the Commercial Contracts team at Sheffield Hallam University can offer specialist legal advice on

• company law
• partnership law
• law of contract and contractual terms and conditions
• employment law
• insurance law
• litigation and debt
• arbitration, mediation and disputes

Graham Hulse, intellectual property and commercial contracts manager with the Technology Transfer and Commercial Contracts teams offers intellectual property advice, including

• patents
• copyright
• registered and unregistered design rights
• trade marks

If you are thinking about starting a new business or have invented a product then the Engineers at Gripple are here to help. We are able to give you advice on a range of subjects from manufacturing processes to market research. Coming from an internationally successful and share-holder owned business we can help by passing on the ideas behind the ethos that makes Gripple work so well.

No idea is a bad Idea and we will work through the process with you in order to get your product to market or business up and running.