Ketty is Managing Director for Business Development at Newable Advice.  She has two decades’ track record working with key funders such as the Department for Business and Trade (and its predecessors), Innovate UK, JP Morgan Chase and the GLA, to develop and deliver business support programmes for companies across the UK. She leads on building partnerships and securing new opportunities for Advice.

She also leads for Newable Group on development and implementation of the ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) Strategy and headed the team that delivered Low ESG Risk Rating by Sustainalytics.

Since she joined Newable in 2005, Ketty has spearheaded the growth of the teams that deliver export and innovation advice for many thousands of companies, initially in London and the South East and now increasingly across the wider UK. She has led on a number of Social Impact projects supporting small businesses from under-represented groups.

Ketty’s commercial experience In Europe includes setting-up and running large, successful, FMCG sales teams. She is a trained chemical engineer, fluent in four languages.

Malcolm has over twenty-five years of experience in senior management. He leads Newable’s Business Advisory Services team that helps small and medium-sized business grow and innovate in the UK and overseas and delivers a range of innovation projects, including Innovate UK, Help to Grow Mentoring, Start Up Company Post Laon Mentoring and social impact programmes as well as our Events team which supports all of these activities.

He was Group Finance Director and then Executive Chairman of BLP Group. BLP has operations in the UK, North America, Europe and China, and have exported to many countries. It was awarded the Queen’s Award for Export. Malcolm led a project to establish a large subsidiary in China and was appointed as a Director of the China Britain Business Council.

In 2009, Malcolm established MGC Business Consultants LLP which provided advice and support to small and medium-sized companies with an emphasis on international trade.

Malcolm was a lay member of the Bar Standards Board which regulates Barristers in England and Wales and he had been a Magistrate for twenty years.

Steve has spent the last 30 years advising ambitious entrepreneurs and scale-up CEOs to accelerate the growth of their business. This could be as a Coach, a Trainer or as a Director of a regional Growth Support Programme. He has personally been instrumental in the rapid growth of two management consultancies which ultimately led to successful acquisitions. The technical and emotional lessons learnt on this journey are gold dust for “inpatient for growth” CEOs.

The Growthology Techniques he has designed and delivered have played a key role in the design of the UK’s most successful High Growth Business Support initiatives, including High Growth Business Programme (North West), GrowthAccelerator (England), Scale-Up programmes (Lancashire), Strategic Business Growth Programme (Leeds) and Accelerated Growth Programme (Wales).

Thom joined Newable in January 2023 after a decade in central Government, where he held senior positions in the Department for Education, and latterly as Northern Director in the Department for International Trade with responsibility for Investment and Trade across the Northern Powerhouse.

His role as Director, North involves growing Newable’s business into new regions, and builds on his experience of working with national and local Government, as well as his excellent leadership credentials.

Thom is a Mechanical Engineer and has a PhD in Computational Fluid Dynamics obtained whilst working alongside Rolls-Royce. He has also worked for E.On and Procter & Gamble, and grew up in Belgium.

Ciara is a Certified Management Consultant with many years’ experience working with innovation lead businesses. Ciara has a successful track-record of working with SMEs to enhance their innovation capacity, commercialise and internationalise.

In her current role as Head of Innovation & Business Advice, Ciara manages the relationship with funders and oversees the delivery of Innovate UK EDGE Investment Readiness and International initiatives along with other business support and social impact programmes.

 In addition, Ciara leads on Newable’s Fuelling Ambition initiative which offers tailored support and events to help improve the competitiveness of female-led SMEs and help them maximise their full potential.

Michael is the Head of Performance, Innovation & International, leading both the export and innovation adviser teams in Newable.

He has over 20 years of export experience in sectors such as Telecommunications, Chemicals, Engineering, Retail, Banking, Academia and not-for-profit. His last corporate roles were as the Managing Director of a satellite communications & systems integration company and the Vice-President of an international change management & organisational re-design consultancy.  At London Business School, he served for 9 years on the International Alumni Board and Chaired their Governance & Nominations Committee.  Michael is also an exam qualified member of the Institute of Directors and the Institute of Personnel & Development.

His earlier corporate roles included all aspects of Human Resource & Development, rising to the role of Director of HRD.  While on the Court of St James’s, he was a key member of the team that led the first privatisation of an Inter-Governmental Organisation.

Prior to joining Newable 10 years ago, Michael has been involved in international and multi-cultural business projects such as: multi-million-dollar project sales; the transfer of undertaking in business acquisitions & sales; the sale & delivery of high-technology solutions in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East; mentoring MD/GMs on strategic change (in Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, Thailand, UK and USA) and influencing legislative change at governmental level.

Jim is the Head of Mentoring Support at Newable, overseeing the delivery of the Help to Grow: Management Course (voluntary mentoring) on behalf of the Department for Business and Trade as well as the Startup Loans’ Post Loans Support Programme on behalf of British Business Bank.

Before then, Jim was a Senior International Trade Adviser and Sector Team Manager for the UK’s Department for International Trade, covering the creative & media sector in London and South East regions and leading across all sectors for the Indian markets.

Prior to joining Newable in 2014, Jim spent over 20 years working for Haymarket Media Group where he was involved in building the company’s international business interests, in particular in India, China, Australia and South East Asia. He spent 12 years based full time overseas including six years living and working in India. Jim has set-up businesses in each corner of the world, from one man start-ups and single license agreements to acquisitions and joint ventures with multi-nationals. He oversaw the launch of over 30 magazines and websites in 12 languages, in 15 countries.

While living in India, Jim was the chairman of the British Business Group Mumbai and when he lived in China, was on the committee of the British Chamber of Commerce, Shanghai.

Monica has over 16 years’ experience designing and managing publicly funded projects to support small and medium-size businesses (SMEs) survive and diversify, increase their innovation capacity, explore their international potential, and grow. She has a particular affection for social impact projects that support SMEs to enter big supply chains and wide experience in supporting under-served business communities such as ethnic-minority, disabled, young and women-owned businesses. Monica is very familiar with Government and EU management requirements after managing multiple ERDF programmes and others funded by Department for International Trade, Greater London Authority, Enterprise Europe Network, Innovate UK and BEIS.

Prior to joining Newable, Monica has a blended experience in the private and public sector, having worked in the fashion, knowledge management and industrial lighting industries as well as being a Trade Adviser for the Commercial Office at the Spanish Embassy in Singapore.

Giacomo has over 15 years of senior management’s experience in the UK and Italy across a diverse range of roles and business sectors. He is the Head of the Newable Events and Live Marketing team, responsible for providing event, marketing, and content support across all business support programmes delivered by Newable, including several national programmes.

Before joining Newable in 2016, he worked in senior marketing roles for companies in the property, energy, and consumer protection sectors, and was Non-Executive Director of Whitehead Alenia Sistemi Subacquei (WASS), part of multinational Defence, Aerospace and Security Leonardo group (formerly Finmeccanica). He also held senior positions in regional and national Governments in Italy.

Giacomo has a master’s degree in Politics and History from the University of Siena and studied for one year at the University College of Swansea

Nikki has over 20 years’ experience in public sector programme monitoring, ensuring quality of MI, performance management as well as oversight of enquiry and triage services, ISO compliance.

Nikki has been managing various aspects of the operational delivery within the Advice Operational teams since 2005 and is currently responsible for overseeing a team of 16 to deliver all aspects of frontline support of Advice services.

In recent years she has also absorbed the delivery of all Newable contracts including in the North, in addition to the monitoring and reporting of internal performance and external contract delivery, all aspects of management information, compliance with government guidelines and auditing requirements.

Nikki’s expertise lies in the delivery of government contracts and implementing efficient and productive practices within the restrictions of government policy and procedures.