Top entrepreneur Richard Branson surprised Scotland's Virgin Startup Business of the Year finalists at a mentoring session
A Scottish social entrepreneur got the chance to pick the brains of one of the UK’s most successful businessmen when Sir Richard Branson gate-crashed her mentoring session.
Celia Hodgson from Hey Girls, a social enterprise she set up to tackle period poverty, met the Virgin boss on his visit to Edinburgh this week.
Ceila with winner of the Virgin StartUp’s inaugural Scotland’s startup Business of the Year award earlier this year.
As part of her prize for winning she is receiving mentoring sessions from some of Scotland’s top business people.
Branson, in Edinburgh for the launch of the city’s first Virgin Hotel, dropped into her first session with Jackie Waring, founder and chief executive of Investing Women.
The session included advice on how to grow your business and make connections.
Loral and Eishel Quinn from Sustainably and Pooja Jain from CogniHealth were runners up to Celia in the competition and also met Waring and Branson.
Sir Richard Branson said: “I’m proud of the support we offer entrepreneurs across the Virgin Group. The team at Virgin StartUp knows the importance of mentors and have provided thousands of support hours across the country. It was brilliant to drop-in and surprise everyone; and a great way to kick off my visit to Edinburgh.”
Jackie Waring, the founder and chief executive of Investing Women, added: “It was an honour to be able to sit with some of Scotland’s leading entrepreneurs and share my advice and experiences with them.
“In the work we do to encourage female entrepreneurs across Scotland, we know how vital it is to have a support system around you. I hope Hey Girls, Sustainably and CogniHealth were able to take something from today away with them and use it to make a difference.
“Of course, Richard showing up was an added bonus for us all – I couldn’t believe it when he came through the doors. Hearing from the man himself has left us all inspired and motivated to reach our goals.”
Virgin StartUp is the not-for-profit arm of the Virgin Group spearheading the Group’s entrepreneurial philosophy. It provides government backed loans between £500 and £25,000 to entrepreneurs who work with the VSU team to build robust business plans.
Virgin StartUp launched in Scotland in 2016 and has supported 69 businesses with loans and mentoring since then.
