TrainingTraining sessions & masterclassese-Learningbespoke business trainingpersonality profilingstart-up business trainingrefugees entrepreneurs support
Please Call: 0800 085 5090 or Email heretohelp@menta.org.uk and find us across social media @mentabusiness
MENTA provide business advice, business skills training; bespoke business courses, networking opportunities. and events.
We provide business services that are designed to help all business people grow their business.
For more than thirty five years our have helped more than 40,000 entrepreneurs launch and run thriving and profitable businesses. Our mission is to support people start and grow their businesses, encourage expansion, growth and employment to ensure the continued thriving prosperity of East Anglia.
We believe that our team are the secret to our success, the MENTA team are driven by the desire to help you realise your full potential and succeed in your chosen line of business. Their wealth of business experience is huge and offers insight as well as practical advice from people who have or still run their own business. We look forward to helping you build and expand your business.
Alex is our CEO, Alex says "My passion for business and meeting entrepreneurial, creative people helps me drive forward and build on Suffolk and Norfolk's success to be recognised nationally as a fantastic area to live and work".
Yvonne has a wealth of customer service experience and you will find her at our Bury St Edmunds business centre. Yvonne says "‘I’m passionate about the delivery of excellent customer service, always welcoming and ready to help"
You will find me in the very busy reception ensuring the smooth day to day running of the branch and looking after the 22 small business tenant companies at the Bury St Edmunds site. I welcome all visitors to the site, prepare and take care of the two meeting rooms and supervise the daily post and deliveries. There are always lots of interesting telephone calls and emails every day. I especially enjoy meeting so many people and following their individual progress. With many years of customer service experience and an aptitude of resolving any situation that may arise, I thoroughly enjoy working at Menta.
Enterprise and enterprising people are at the heart of my work with MENTA. My advice knowledge is not from a book or via a university degree, but comes from more than 20 years of running my own businesses. If you want to start your own business, please get in touch.
As a Mentor, Coach and Business Adviser, I have helped high performing businesses grow and achieve their ambitions with clarity and realism. I have worked across a variety of sectors in Government funded initiatives and am totally focused on the success of businesses I work with.
Monica is our lead business project manager, delivering support services as part of a Home Office sponsored pilot program- Changing Faces, Changing Places package of Business Advice, Mentoring and support for start-ups in partnership with SMP (for Ipswich, Norwich, Peterborough) as well as advice to existing businesses in the East Anglian region with over 20 years business coaching, development and strategic management experience in both the private and public sectors throughout London and the East, having acquired an extensive range of practical business skills and operational knowledge on route. I aim to ensure that those individuals who aspire to start a venture or who plan to grow their business are provided with the necessary tools to realise their goals and vision, by offering appropriate professional advice and assistance. In addition to helping in preparing a viable business plan, direction to sources of funding, access to FREE training workshops and business networking events, with a view to establishing a successful enterprise.
John is a professional, highly experienced, trainer, possessing a wide range of business skills. His relaxed presentation style proves popular with delegates who, regularly, comment on the, “ease of understanding” and his” knowledge and professionalism”. Practical experience gained from running his own business is invaluable to clients when discussing business issues. John has 25 years Commercial Banking experience in Norwich, London and Edinburgh. He is also a semi professional musician, playing numerous concerts and shows throughout the region and Europe. He very much looks forward to meeting you
Paul is based in West Suffolk at our Haverhill business centre, Paul Says "I'm positive for the future of business in Haverhill and want to play my part in building a great success story with advice which is practical, sensible and forward thinking. If I can be of help, please reach out".
I love detail and provide administrative and project support to my colleagues across the county as well as overseeing MENTA’s supplier contracts.
I thrive on the day to day management of the organisation, ensuring the team are best prepared to perform their duties across all operations of MENTA.
I joined MENTA as their new marketing manager in July 2019, I'm responsible for overseeing the marketing strategy, branding and public relations. I enjoy helping business teams with their media marketing needs, you will find me hosting numerous networking events across Suffolk as well as helping the team at MENTA to raise awareness of their business services across Norfolk or Suffolk. My extensive experience in media and marketing has seen me working alongside some of the largest UK brands.
John is our Enterprise and Contracts manager – John was formally head of learning curriculum for, RBS, Global banking group. He has run his own business and will be heading up our enterprise and business Start-up team as well as being a key contact in business relationships across Norfolk and Suffolk. "I'm energized by what the team at MENTA already delivers to the region's entrepreneurial community and we have great plans for the coming months"
business trainer Shaun has a longstanding interest in supporting businesses as a former journalist and business editor with regional media group Archant. Since 2016 he has run his own company specialising in content and business storytelling and training. He is passionate about helping people turn their business dreams into reality and also lectures in business management and journalism at City College Norwich and the University of East Anglia
With a background in teaching; and a love of detail, language, and organization, my work here at MENTA focuses on providing administrative support on various projects and with business activities. I also enjoy assisting colleagues with research; and, love speaking with, and helping, our clients as they start and develop their businesses.
With an administrative, coordination & project support background I provide assistance for the ERDF Project and other activities within the organisation to help my MENTA colleagues & clients.
With masses of events experience across Europe and the UK. I enjoy working with the sponsors, exhibitors, visitors and speakers to ensure the MENTA business show is a fantastic experience for all attending.
Our team get business and talk the language of business people, the MENTA team are driven by the desire to help you realise your full potential and succeed in your chosen line of business.
Many of us have run our own successful businesses and we look forward to helping you build and expand yours.
Alex is our CEO, Alex says "My passion for business and meeting entrepreneurial, creative people helps me drive forward and build on Suffolk and Norfolk's success to be recognised nationally as a fantastic area to live and work".
Yvonne has a wealth of customer service experience and you will find her at our Bury St Edmunds business centre. Yvonne says "‘I’m passionate about the delivery of excellent customer service, always welcoming and ready to help"
You will find me in the very busy reception ensuring the smooth day to day running of the branch and looking after the 22 small business tenant companies at the Bury St Edmunds site. I welcome all visitors to the site, prepare and take care of the two meeting rooms and supervise the daily post and deliveries. There are always lots of interesting telephone calls and emails every day. I especially enjoy meeting so many people and following their individual progress. With many years of customer service experience and an aptitude of resolving any situation that may arise, I thoroughly enjoy working at Menta.
Enterprise and enterprising people are at the heart of my work with MENTA. My advice knowledge is not from a book or via a university degree, but comes from more than 20 years of running my own businesses. If you want to start your own business, please get in touch.
As a Mentor, Coach and Business Adviser, I have helped high performing businesses grow and achieve their ambitions with clarity and realism. I have worked across a variety of sectors in Government funded initiatives and am totally focused on the success of businesses I work with.
Monica is our lead business project manager, delivering support services as part of a Home Office sponsored pilot program- Changing Faces, Changing Places package of Business Advice, Mentoring and support for start-ups in partnership with SMP (for Ipswich, Norwich, Peterborough) as well as advice to existing businesses in the East Anglian region with over 20 years business coaching, development and strategic management experience in both the private and public sectors throughout London and the East, having acquired an extensive range of practical business skills and operational knowledge on route. I aim to ensure that those individuals who aspire to start a venture or who plan to grow their business are provided with the necessary tools to realise their goals and vision, by offering appropriate professional advice and assistance. In addition to helping in preparing a viable business plan, direction to sources of funding, access to FREE training workshops and business networking events, with a view to establishing a successful enterprise.
John is a professional, highly experienced, trainer, possessing a wide range of business skills. His relaxed presentation style proves popular with delegates who, regularly, comment on the, “ease of understanding” and his” knowledge and professionalism”. Practical experience gained from running his own business is invaluable to clients when discussing business issues. John has 25 years Commercial Banking experience in Norwich, London and Edinburgh. He is also a semi professional musician, playing numerous concerts and shows throughout the region and Europe. He very much looks forward to meeting you
Paul is based in West Suffolk at our Haverhill business centre, Paul Says "I'm positive for the future of business in Haverhill and want to play my part in building a great success story with advice which is practical, sensible and forward thinking. If I can be of help, please reach out".
I love detail and provide administrative and project support to my colleagues across the county as well as overseeing MENTA’s supplier contracts.
I thrive on the day to day management of the organisation, ensuring the team are best prepared to perform their duties across all operations of MENTA.
I joined MENTA as their new marketing manager in July 2019, I'm responsible for overseeing the marketing strategy, branding and public relations. I enjoy helping business teams with their media marketing needs, you will find me hosting numerous networking events across Suffolk as well as helping the team at MENTA to raise awareness of their business services across Norfolk or Suffolk. My extensive experience in media and marketing has seen me working alongside some of the largest UK brands.
John is our Enterprise and Contracts manager – John was formally head of learning curriculum for, RBS, Global banking group. He has run his own business and will be heading up our enterprise and business Start-up team as well as being a key contact in business relationships across Norfolk and Suffolk. "I'm energized by what the team at MENTA already delivers to the region's entrepreneurial community and we have great plans for the coming months"
business trainer Shaun has a longstanding interest in supporting businesses as a former journalist and business editor with regional media group Archant. Since 2016 he has run his own company specialising in content and business storytelling and training. He is passionate about helping people turn their business dreams into reality and also lectures in business management and journalism at City College Norwich and the University of East Anglia
With a background in teaching; and a love of detail, language, and organization, my work here at MENTA focuses on providing administrative support on various projects and with business activities. I also enjoy assisting colleagues with research; and, love speaking with, and helping, our clients as they start and develop their businesses.
With an administrative, coordination & project support background I provide assistance for the ERDF Project and other activities within the organisation to help my MENTA colleagues & clients.
With masses of events experience across Europe and the UK. I enjoy working with the sponsors, exhibitors, visitors and speakers to ensure the MENTA business show is a fantastic experience for all attending.
MENTA benefits from having a board of non-executive members who advise the CEO and his team, bringing a depth of supreme business experience, helping us develop our work, product and services to wider business community.
My connection to East Anglia dates back to the early 1980s living in Newmarket. After my undergraduate studies in engineering, I began a career in aviation, working initially as a flying instructor for Marshalls of Cambridge. I then joining Air UK as an airline pilot, flying from both Norwich and Stansted airports. I also held various senior management and board-level roles in the aviation industry, experiencing merger and acquisition on three different occasions. In 2014, together with my wife, I set up Bury St Edmunds based IP firm, Ward Trade Marks. Helping MENTA to support the growth of start-up and early-stage businesses is a pleasure and a privilege. In my spare time, I like to keep fit and enjoy meeting personal challenges such as running the London marathon and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.
I’m CEO and co-founder of the East Anglian based tech start-up Safepoint. I’ve been very active in the local entrepreneurial community over the past 4 years, having started a business, raised investment and grant funding, and gained Safepoint nominations such as one of the most innovative companies in East Anglia. I bring a wealth of insight into the challenges entrepreneurs face in the region.
Phil has lived in Suffolk for over 30 years and worked in the area for most of the last 20, both with and for East Anglian based, high growth entrepreneurial businesses as either adviser or board-level leadership. He is a commercially focussed chartered accountant with significant strategic, operational, M&A and team development expertise along with experience gained at SME, corporate and international group level in scale-up, leveraged, dynamic environments. His passions are supporting growing business through building quality, effective teams, people development, sound financial management, exceptional service delivery, leadership and mentoring. Phil lives just outside Bury St Edmunds with his wife and young daughter who keeps him busy most of the time when he is not working!
Jamie is a successful entrepreneur with a proven track record in building global digital businesses from here in Suffolk. In 1999 Jamie launched one of the UK’s first digital marketing agencies taking it from a back room in Framingham to national recognition before its acquisition in 2007. Between 2010 and 2018, Jamie created, built and grew a SAAS Analytics platform to become the World’s Leading ‘Pay as you Go’ Social Analytics platform based right here in Suffolk. Jamie is a founding supporter of the University of Suffolk and continues to promote the virtues of living and working in the county. Away from work Jamie enjoys eating out around the county and running it off by the sea in Felixstowe.
I am responsible for the team leading on economic development and growth at Forest Heath District Council and St Edmundsbury Borough Council. I have a strong interest in helping businesses prosper and enjoy supporting MENTA by using my knowledge, experience and connections.
My skills centre on strategic e-business consultancy and an ability to identify commercial objectives and requirements, and translating these into an actionable technical strategy. I enjoy my work with MENTA and bring a host of web and technical skills to the board.
As director of local company, Pathfinder East I have over 25 years’ experience in the private and not-for-profit sectors with a focus on marketing. There is tremendous drive and opportunities for start-ups and business growth and I’m delighted to be part of the team to help shape the work of MENTA.
As a commercial solicitor I advise a wide range of local businesses and I am passionate about understanding and encouraging business development. I enjoy supporting the MENTA Team with the many and varied enterprise initiatives they provide to start-up and growing businesses.
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