Gillian McLaren

Senior Customer Experience Manager, Start Up Loans, British Business Bank

Gillian McLaren is the Senior Customer Experience Manager at Startup Loans, a part of the British Business Bank. She has been working with the British Business Bank for 3.5 years and has over 10 years’ experience in SME finance both in the UK and Canada. Gillian has a great deal of experience of how Start Up Loans support businesses in their first two years with funding and mentoring. She will give start-ups, entrepreneurs and advisers an update on how to unlock the finance and support that is available from the Start Up Loans scheme and through other resources available from the Bank.

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Speaker sessions

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14:45 - 15:45

Creating an ecosystem for start-ups to thrive

Pickavance Lecture Theatre | Main Stage

Oxfordshire has a vibrant community of young and early stage companies, with many new ones created each year. Many of these are spin-outs from Oxford’s two Universities and benefit greatly from the support of their parent institutions. However, many companies start without the backing of Oxfordshire’s universities or decide to locate within the Oxfordshire region to grow and develop their innovation. This panel will look at the ecosystem for start-ups, considering how companies gain support and grow, and will examine the strengths and weaknesses of Oxfordshire as a place for start-ups to scale and succeed.

Panellists: Mark Evans – Adaptix, Jon Rees – MitoRx Therapeutics, Nicki Campling – Barclays Eagle Labs, Oxford, Jens Tholstrup – OION, Megan Morys-Carter – TheHill and Gillian McLaren – British Business Bank.

Chaired by Nicola McConville – Taylor Vinters.

Sponsored by British Business Bank, James Cowper Kreston and Taylor Vinters.

VIEW THE FULL PROGRAMME