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).
Nick Jenkins | Founder of Moonpig.com – Thursday 13 February 2025
Nick Jenkins read Russian at Birmingham University before moving to Moscow in 1990. After spending a year setting up a sales operation for Linde has was asked to join Marc Rich, the global commodity trading company which later became Glencore. He spent eight years in Russia before heading back to the UK in 1998.
Having decided that he wanted to setup his own business, Nick joined the full time MBA programme at Cranfield (98-99) while he developed a number of possible business plans. The business plan for Moonpig was submitted as part of his course work on the Entrepreneurship course.
Within a week of leaving Cranfield, Nick had created a company, rented an office and started work. Moonpig.com launched to the public in April 2000. After five difficult rounds of investments and moments of teetering on the brink, the business finally made a profit by 2005, and by the time it sold in 2011, Moonpig had five million customers. The company floated in 2021 and now sells over 35 million personalised cards a year.
Since 2008 Nick has invested in 28 start-ups, 8 of which as a panellist on Dragons’ Den in 2015-16. He is currently the Chairman and largest shareholder of an enterprise SaaS software business which provides drop shipping software to large retailers. He is also the largest shareholder in which provides home energy management services and devices to several million homes through utility company. His focus is now on sustainable energy, though in 2024 he opened the South Wilts Ski Club, an indoor infinity ski slope.
Nick has been involved in the charity sector since 2010 as CEO and then trustee of (2010-14) which is now one of the largest multi-academy trusts in the UK. From 2015-21 he was a trustee of the which runs nine state academies in South London.
Nick has been a Trustee of since 2015. The charity provide surgery to women who have untreated obstetric fistulae, mainly in sub–Saharan Africa.
