Our just IMAGINE if... counsellors

Each just IMAGINE if... finalist will be assigned two counsellors to help guide and support them towards their final presentation. Finalists can draw upon the knowledge, insights and networks of these exceptional business people, to help perfect their business pitch, and turn their idea into a tangible and viable product.

Iqbal Wahhab founded two highly successful restaurant businesses, Roast and The Cinnamon Club. He has won several significant accolades during his career, including GQ 100 Most Connected and The Sunday Times Maserati Top 100 business start-up mentors. In 2019, he was the High Sherriff of Greater London and was Vice President of the Sustainable Restaurants Association.

Chris has over 15 years of experience leading fast-growing businesses across logistics, consumer packaged goods, and biotech sectors. Chris specialises in transformational change, and his core competencies include strategic planning, market entry, product development, marketing, business development, strategic partnerships, operational efficiency, and people and culture.

Piers is an entrepreneur, investor, and former Dragon on Dragons’ Den. With a background in law and investment banking, Piers has established himself as a leading figure in the UK business world, particularly in the technology sector.

Previous roles include board member of Nesta, the £600m innovation foundation, British Business Bank, the UK Cloud Industry Forum and TechUK. Piers is an advocate for diversity in business and sits on Sky’s Diversity Advisory Council.

Ella oversees the annual One Young World Summit. Her main passion is building communities; she recently founded W1 Debates, which seeks to create robust but civilised discourse on foreign policy issues via live debates and forums.

Ella is a co-founder of the Sino-German Initiative, which will run conferences and programmes to increase the business and cultural relationships between Germany and China.

Ben is the co-founder of Raaise, a platform that helps climate startups source funding; Rebel Book Club, a global learning community; and EarthAI, AI innovation for the climate era.

From crowdfunding and building a tropical island eco-village, to reinventing book clubs, to accelerating impact careers and climate startups, Ben has spent over 20 years exploring how to use technology and community tools to make a positive change in the world.

Nigel leads a team helping talented inventors develop their products. He supports them with expertise in electronic engineering and provides services from research and development to bring products to market.

Morgan IAT has won various awards for innovation in manufacturing over the years, including two highly prestigious Queen’s Awards. 

Until 2019, Mike was the Director of Sustainable Business at Marks & Spencer. He co-chaired the Consumer Goods Forum’s sustainability work, bringing large retailers and fast-moving consumer goods brands together to work on deforestation, plastics and forced labour.

Currently, Mike has committed himself to helping businesses, big and small, to succeed while following best sustainability practices.

Amy, an environmental scientist by training, has over 29 years of experience in corporate sustainability and impact investing. She led sustainability teams at Bank of America and Microsoft and advised some of the world’s largest companies on sustainability. Amy sits on the board of several global companies and is an advisor to the Ocean Plastics Leadership Network and Greenheart Consulting.

Rob founded The Instant Group, a high growth company and pioneer within the global flexible workspace sector, in 1999. He sold the business in 2018 to private equity and subsequently became a division of IWG Plc.

In 2012, Rob co-founded Ride25, a cycling adventure taking entrepreneurs from London to Sydney over 25 years which raises money for the children's charity 1moreChild. He is an experienced angel investor and holds several non-executive director roles in businesses as diverse as Grubby (plant based meal kits), Snoooze (pillows) and Love Ventures (EIS Tech Investor).

Andrew has been leading change in large corporates and innovative ventures for over 25 years, including EV, new retail, circular economy and now AI for Business. He has worked with global corporates to create and develop their strategic innovation and corporate venturing initiatives.

An early-stage investor in a number of tech start-ups and a founding member of Henley Business Angels, Andrew has an economics degree from Cambridge, is a qualified chartered management accountant and gained his MBA at Henley Business School.

Helen currently holds the position of Non-Executive Director and Remuneration Committee Chair at several companies, including Fuller, Smith & Turner plc, Premier Foods plc, Virgin Wines plc, and THG plc. Additionally, she serves as the Chair of the board at Toast Ale.

Before leaving executive life in 2017, Helen was on the Board of the Caffè Nero Group. Prior to that, she held the position of Managing Director at Zizzi Restaurants. However, before venturing into the hospitality sector, Helen worked for Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. She was appointed to their Independent Board of Directors based in Vermont, USA between 2011 and 2021.

A Reading University alumni, Ben qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG and went on to co-found private equity investor Risk Capital Partners in 2001.

After 22 years of investing with Risk Capital Partners, Ben now focuses on his own portfolio of investments in the Agrifood sector, as well as backing more generalist management buyouts. He also looks after a small beef herd in the Chilterns.

Bruce is the Founder of First Mile, a waste disposal company that delivers recycling and circular economy services to businesses throughout the UK to assist them on their journey to net zero carbon.

Before starting First Mile in 2004, Bruce completed a PhD in  Environmental Marxism. While studying the the circular economy and producer responsibility, Bruce decided he could have more environmental impact by working with businesses to make them greener.

Tristram is an international award-winning author, speaker, campaigner and expert on the environmental and social impacts of food.

He founded Feedback, an environmental organisation that is pivotal in the food waste movement. Its campaigns include Feeding the 5000, the Pig Idea and the Gleaning Network.

Tristram also founded Toast Ale, an award-winning craft beer made from upcycled, unsold fresh bread. 100% of its distributable profits go to Feedback and aligned charities.

Oli co-founded Clean and Cool, connecting hundreds of cleantech founders with partners and clients worldwide.

Oli is a shareholder in several companies, including Ethos, mental health business Calm.com and Troubadour Theatres, creating new theatres and film studios. He co-founded the UK's largest school enterprise competition, Tenner, and sits on the advisory boards of Tech London Advocates, One Million Mentors and Founders4Schools.

Will joined Brompton in 2002 when it had around 40 employees. During this time, Brompton has become a global brand with over a million customers.  

Will is a chartered engineer and previously worked for Nissan and DuPont. He lectures at Imperial College on engineering, innovation, and entrepreneurship, has published a book on business, and lectures globally.

Mark joined Ella's Kitchen in 2011 and is now the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). 

In 2016, Ella's Kitchen was approved as a B Corporation, becoming only the second company to do so whilst part of a PLC. Mark sits on the board for  B Lab, a UK-registered charity that supports certified B Corps in the UK. B Corporation businesses give equal standing to people, the planet and profit.  

In February 2024, Mark joined the plant-based company THIS as CEO.

June is the CEO of one of the UK's leading, award-winning childcare social enterprises, operating 40 nurseries across London,

A tireless campaigner, June always looks for new ways to influence policy and improve society for all children and families. She partners with academics and services in the UK and overseas to implement a sustainable, social enterprise vision for the Early Years. June advises the Department for Education, key organisations, and overseas governments about Early Years.

Nick is a Global Managing Director at Hogarth, the world’s largest Advertising Production Agency. He oversees their largest global clients, Rolex and Dyson.

Nick has worked in advertising for 17 years across several of London’s most well-known agencies.

Nick currently sits on the Mayor of London’s advisory group for ‘Child Healthy Weight’, plays saxophone in a covers band, and is a co-founder of a musical theatre company.