Captain Simon Mann, schooled at Eton, saw action in the Scots Guards and the SAS. He served a total of ten years. After starting successful business and rejoining the forces, Mann and others formed Executive Outcomes (EO) and turned around the Angolan war.Having also started DiamondWorks PLC, Mann and EO went on to win the Sierra Leone civil war, restoring that government and democracy in the process. Mann and others also founded the company Sandline at this time, later to become well known for the Papua New Guinea army coup incident, and for the Arms to Sierra Leone scandal, one that resulted in the resignation of Robin Cook as Foreign Secretary.In 1997 Mann retired from DiamondWorks to live in Cape Town only to re-emerge in 2004, as the leader of the notorious failed Coup d’Etat attempt against the President of Equatorial Guinea.After five and a half years in two of Africa’s toughest prisons, Chikurubi Maximum Security, in Zimbabwe, and Black Beach, in Equatorial Guinea, Mann won a pardon.
Keynote
David Holden-White
Techspert.io
David is Co-Founder and Managing Director at techspert.io. His primary responsibility is heading the company’s operational and financial activities. His background lies in biotechnology and he holds a Master’s in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford and a Master’s in Bioscience Enterprise from the University of Cambridge. David went on to become a biotech patent attorney and worked in corporate development for a diagnostics start-up in Cambridge. It was while doing market research at that firm where the need for better access to expert insights became clear. So, he teamed up with Graham and Hari to build a platform to transform the way knowledge is transferred between people and businesses globally.
Keynote
Private Company
Technology, Big Data
Jay Rhame
Reaves Asset Management
Joseph (Jay) Rhame III
CEO, Portfolio Manager, Analyst
Mr. Rhame joined Reaves in 2005 and was named CEO in 2019. He is an analyst, a portfolio manager, and serves on the portfolio review and risk management committees. He is a CFA Charterholder.
Timothy O. Porter
VP, Portfolio Manager, Analyst
Mr. Porter joined Reaves in 2004 as an energy analyst. He currently manages the Reaves Utilities and Energy Infrastructure Fund and serves on the portfolio review and risk management committees. He formerly was a portfolio manager at Millennium Partners. Mr. Porter is a CFA Charterholder.
Keynote
Asset Management - Boutique
Infrastructure
Michael Besson
Consolidated Bank Holdings
Michael Besson, currently resides in Las Vegas NV., serves Consolidated Bank Group Inc. as its CMO (Chief marketing officer) is former VP of world-wide consulting for Tony Robbins’ BBI & also serves as Managing Director of the [www.BessonAgency.com](http://www.BessonAgency.com).
Mr. Besson serves clients nationwide as a business development consultant to start up & emerging companies working with entrepreneurs, C-level executives and management teams; coaching clients on how to tactically bridge the gap from their existing results to optimum profitable performance. His 25 year background is unrivaled in; Key Note Speaking, Corporate Turn-Arounds, Business Development, Professional Development, Digital Marketing and Online Marketing Strategies.
Today he is a sought after business growth leader & key note speaker.
Keynote
Private Company
Cannabis
Spike Hughes
Cohesion Investments Limited
Spike Hughes has been a pioneer for a number of businesses setting up their investment propositions as well as raising assets himself in excess of USD $15 billion. A founder of Skandia Investment Group, Spike personally innovated several market leading fund ranges including the wildly popular Best Ideas funds, considered then to be the biggest UK fund launch that the industry had witnessed. Previously, Spike was Founding Managing Director of the discretionary and multi-manager businesses for FTSE 100 giant Hargreaves Lansdown. Spike was a Strategic Adviser to Crispin Odey, contributing to the launch of Odey Wealth and also advised the CEO of AXA in launching its multi-manager business.
Spike is currently Founder & CEO of Cohesion Investments Limited, based in London, an investment business dedicated to long term growth opportunities with a specialist focus on India and Water as investment themes.
Keynote
Asset Management - Boutique
Water
Mark Pearson
Fuel Ventures
Mark is an award-winning entrepreneur and investor. In 2006, Mark began his career in e-commerce. From an initial investment of £300 Mark grew MyVoucherCodes into the second biggest voucher code brand in Europe. The network served over 2 million users in 8 territories across Europe and South America. In 2014, Mark exited MyVoucherCodes for £55 million. Mark is an investor in a number of technology businesses, include Paddle, which is one the UK’s fastest growing software companies according to Deloitte’s Fast 50 list 2018. Mark is the Founder and Managing Partner of Fuel Ventures and has become a significant figurehead for entrepreneurs in the UK tech sector.
Keynote
Venture Capital
Technology
Corporates
Company backgrounds and useful links.
Captain Simon Mann
Captain Simon Mann, schooled at Eton, saw action in the Scots Guards and the SAS. He served a total of ten years. After starting successful business and rejoining the forces, Mann and others formed Executive Outcomes (EO) and turned around the Angolan war.Having also started DiamondWorks PLC, Mann and EO went on to win the Sierra Leone civil war, restoring that government and democracy in the process. Mann and others also founded the company Sandline at this time, later to become well known for the Papua New Guinea army coup incident, and for the Arms to Sierra Leone scandal, one that resulted in the resignation of Robin Cook as Foreign Secretary.In 1997 Mann retired from DiamondWorks to live in Cape Town only to re-emerge in 2004, as the leader of the notorious failed Coup d’Etat attempt against the President of Equatorial Guinea.After five and a half years in two of Africa’s toughest prisons, Chikurubi Maximum Security, in Zimbabwe, and Black Beach, in Equatorial Guinea, Mann won a pardon.
Keynote
Techspert.io
David Holden-White
Techspert.io are transforming the world of primary research. They use AI to map the world’s knowledge and who holds it, automatically connecting businesses to the experts they need to make the right decisions in product development, market research and investment analysis.
With growth in customers across large consultancies and financial companies, they are projecting £30m revenue by 2023, and are raising to invest further in their deep technology to disrupt the way knowledge is shared between individuals and businesses globally.
Keynote
Private Company
Technology, Big Data
Reaves Asset Management
Jay Rhame
Reaves Asset Management has a long performance record of managing institutional equity portfolios focused on securities in the utilities, telecom, and energy infrastructure sectors. Its managed portfolios have outperformed the S&P 500 Index over the past 41 years with a beta of 0.59. The firm’s investment team utilizes a bottom-up, research intensive process and relies on its experience and sector expertise to uncover securities with attractive relative value. The firm currently manages $3.2 billion of assets.
Keynote
Asset Management - Boutique
Infrastructure
Consolidated Bank Holdings
Michael Besson
-Consolidated Banking Holdings Inc. (“CBH”), is a Canadian incorporated entity aimed at the US banking market and focusing on the cash assets of Cannabis and Cannabis related industries.
CBH plans to establish itself in the US and Canadian banking system, by purchasing, initially 3 community banking entities, in the Continental United States, and once acquired, expand into the cannabis industry by providing financial and banking services to the cannabis and cannabis related business sector.
By acquiring active community banks, all KYC/AML/BSA protocols are in place, therefore much easier exercise with the Federal Reserve that requesting a de-novo bank license.
Banks will be in jurisdictions that have fully legalized cannabis for medical and recreational uses.
-After acquisition of first 3 banks, and their integration into the cannabis industry, CBH will continue to purchase banks in various locales as per cannabis legalization
Keynote
Private Company
Cannabis
Cohesion Investments Limited
Spike Hughes
Cohesion’s capability is connecting investors with investment opportunities that make money. We identify growth in a world where growth is scarce. This will always be underpinned by exceptional and indisputable growth drivers and predictable outcome and without compromising wealth preservation.
Keynote
Asset Management - Boutique
Water
Fuel Ventures
Mark Pearson
Fuel Ventures is an early and growth stage investor in leading global technology companies. They invest in the most ambitious entrepreneurs building market leading companies. They have pioneered an all under one roof approach, with most of the portfolio companies based in the same office space meaning Fuel Ventures can provide hands on support and mentoring. To date, they have invested in 24 portfolio companies and after only 4 years their first fund has a 7.6x valuation uplift. This includes some of the fastest growing software and marketplace companies in the UK, such as Moteefe, who are generating over £3m a month and recently raised at a £44m valuation. They are currently raising capital for their fourth fund, which will invest in a diversified portfolio of 10-12 companies.
