Investing, Influence and the ‘Side-Hustle’
Panel with successful investors and Cambridge alumni Cliff Weight, Mark Bentley and Paul de Gruchy chaired by Sheryl Cuisia, King’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence (Lent 2022). Read speakers bios below.
About the event:
Our Entrepreneur-in-Residence Sheryl Cuisia will discuss how she scaled her business, sold it to a FTSE 250 company and what she is doing now.
Cambridge alumni from the Board of the UK Individual Shareholders Society (ShareSoc) will tackle the important topic of personal investing and the merits of starting early.
Part 2 of our ‘plantrepreneur’ program looks at social influence and the exponential growth of the rare plant collector community, which has made plant ‘side-hustling’ a feasible income generator, especially over the global coronavirus pandemic. We will hear from the charismatic Jonny Balchandani aka @thebeardedplantaholic of Instagram fame. Jonny, along with some of the ‘hottest’ names in the social media plant community ‘beamed in’ via Instagram Live, will share their experience and tips for growing your social network. On the panel with Jonny will be @trojanking9, a marketing guru turned YouTube plant educator, and @growtropicals who started up their thriving rare plant business in the middle of lockdown through to exhibiting at the 2021 RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Look forward to stimulating engagement and exposure to progressive, practical and even alternative viewpoints that are all helpful within the context of business life. For those attending in person, you can expect complimentary wine, plus the bar should be open should you fancy a cocktail.
Those wishing to join virtually are also most welcome to participate via Zoom. Do follow @sherylinmotion and @thebeardedplantaholic on Instagram for joining instructions and fun insights running up to the event. Houseplant content queen’ @goodgrowing will compere the second part of the evening.
About the speakers:
Cliff Weight has been a stock market investor since 1984. He now focuses on smaller growth companies. He has 30+ years’ experience as a remuneration consultant advising many FTSE 350, Small Cap and AIM companies. He is the author of the Directors’ Remuneration Handbook and ShareSoc’s Remuneration Guide. Cliff leads ShareSoc’s Policy and Campaigning activities.
Mark Bentley has been a full-time stock market investor since 2004, having pursued investment as a rewarding hobby for 20 years previously. Most of Mark’s career was spent in the I.T. industry beginning with Logica in 1980, where he worked on the Giotto Halley’s Comet intercept mission for the European Space Agency amongst other projects. In 1987 Mark started his own IT services business, Anvil Technology Ltd, which he ran successfully for 14 years. He is an active investor, attending many company meetings each year and publishes his findings on a number of investment orientated web sites.
Paul de Gruchy has a background in law, latterly as Head of Legal for BNP Paribas Offshore, where he helped establish a large number of listed investment funds. Before that he spent time developing financial services policy and legislation for the regulator and government in Jersey.
Since moving to the UK in 2016, he has focused on investing, running a high conviction portfolio of small cap, cash generative stocks that are overlooked by the market but have potential for significant growth. Paul is also a non-executive director of GCP Infrastructure Investments, a FTSE 250 listed investment company, which gives him a direct understanding of the responsibilities of the modern board.
Chair: Sheryl Cuisia draws on over 20 years’ experience in investor engagement and corporate governance advisory, during which time she oversaw 1,000 campaigns across multiple industries and markets. With progressive proxy solicitation and shareholder communications for complex mergers and acquisitions, activist situations and corporate actions being her key focus areas, she is able to apply her specialist insights to her work at ShareSoc.
In 2011, Sheryl founded a leading UK shareholder engagement consultancy, which was subsequently acquired by a FTSE 250 company in 2018. Her cadre of clients include small-cap companies through to large multi-nationals, activist hedge funds and private equity firms. Her substantial career spans analytical, operational and developmental roles in the UK and Canada for corporate advisory firms.
Sheryl’s advocacy work includes her role as the inaugural Entrepreneur-in-Residence at King’s College, Cambridge University, and co-founding and co-chairing the Women’s Company Secretary Circle (WoCoS). She is also a member of the judging panel of the Non-Executive Director Awards, and holds a small portfolio of non-executive director mandates.
Outside of traditional work, Sheryl is an avid rare plant collector and hobbyist, combining her passion for houseplant investing and social impact via her #plantswithpurpose project on Instagram @sherylinmotion.
WHEN:
6:00 PM Drinks (wine reception)
6:30 PM Panel followed by Q&A
7:45 PM Drinks and opportunity to follow-up with speakers in-person (mingle and wine)
WHERE: King’s College, Cambridge
Chetwynd Room for drinks
Keynes Lecture Theatre for the talks)
TICKETS: Book your tickets here.