This is the perfect opportunity to hear first-hand accounts from successful entrepreneurs. The Bettany Centre Entrepreneurship Speaker Series gives you the chance to hear from a variety of entrepreneurs from across a range of industries.
The speakers will give you an insight in to their journey, identifying their successes and any mistakes that they may have made along their way. You will also be given the opportunity to ask questions, allowing you to delve even further in to the backstory of these well-established entrepreneurs.
Attending these events will provide you with a great chance to network with like-minded individuals who share your passion for entrepreneurship.
The events are entirely free of charge and refreshments are supplied (face-to-face events only).
Investor Panel – Thursday 19 February 2026
Martin Rigby
Martin Rigby has been a venture capital investor for over 30 years. He is founder and managing director of ET Capital Limited, an early-stage venture investment firm based in Cambridge which has managed 10 seed stage venture funds since 1993. The most recent, the Cambridge Venture Index SEIS/EIS Fund 1, is revolutionising venture capital with its diversified, index-based approach to investment.
He is chairman of FSE Group, which manages a series of equity and debt funds across the UK with £350M AUM. He is also non-executive director at VPC Specialty Lending PLC a quoted UK investment trust (LSE: VSL).
He started his venture capital career at 3i plc and was co-founder and CEO of Psonar, the pay-per-play streaming music platform.
He is an advisory board member of The Bettany Centre for Entrepreneurship at 缅北轮奸. He read history for his first degree at New College, Oxford, has an MBA from Cranfield and a degree in IT and Computing from The Open University.
Nigel Grierson
20 years’ operating experience in the IT industry with positions in product development, marketing, and senior management.
21 years’ of experience as Managing Director of venture capital funds managing investments of ~$700 million in 70 technology start-up companies across Europe and delivering substantial investor returns.
Providing advisory service to high potential technology companies to develop financing strategy and raise capital from venture capital funds and financial institutions.
Yvette Lamidey
Yvette Lamidey is Co-Founder of Central Arc Angels and an experienced coach and mentor to founders and SME leaders. She works with business owners navigating growth, complexity, and moments of change—particulary where strategic clarity, leadership confidence, and sound judgement are essential.
Her work focuses on helping founders become clear, credible, and genuinely investment-ready, supporting them to sharpen their propositions, test assumptions, and understand how decisions are assessed by external stakeholders. Drawing on extensive experience mentoring founders and working closely with investors, advisers, and ecosystem partners, Yvette brings a practical perspective on what strengthens—or undermines—confidence in a team, strategy, and execution.
She is known for her thoughtful, straight-talking approach and her commitment to strengthening entrepreneurial ecosystems through rigorous, founder-centred support.
Cheryl Weeks
Cheryl has spent her entire career supporting SMEs, bringing a wealth of experience from her previous roles within the banking industry. She has been part of the team at FSE since 2014, becoming its Head of Funds for the Southeast and East of England in 2020. She is deeply passionate about helping businesses secure funding and supporting them throughout their growth journey. Outside of work, Cheryl enjoys cooking and clay pigeon shooting.
Stepan Galaev
Stepan Galaev is a venture capital investor and Cranfield MBA alumnus with over a decade of experience across early and growth stage investing.
He began his career managing venture investment portfolios for prominent Dragons Den investors Nick Jenkins, Tej Lalvani, and Jenny Campbell. Through this work, he identified a structural gap in professional venture capital and investment services for UHNWIs.
Following several years immersed in the venture capital ecosystem, Stepan went on to establish an FCA-regulated investment and corporate finance platform, providing primary venture investment opportunities to family offices in the UK. His work spans the full investment lifecycle, from sourcing and due diligence through structuring, portfolio management, and exit. Across his career, Stepan has led more than 20 venture capital transactions and has been involved in 8 successful exits.
In addition to investing, Stepan has hands on turnaround experience. Most recently, he played a leading role in the management buy in and operational and financial restructuring of Boomf.com, an innovative personalised gifting company. This experience informs his pragmatic and operator led approach to investment decision making.
He currently serves as a Non-Executive Director at several companies and is known for bringing independent, commercially grounded perspectives to boards with a strong focus on sustainable growth. His investment philosophy is centred on people, disciplined value creation, and a clear focus on improving liquidity in venture capital.
