Meet our small business mentors of the year!
What happens when experienced professionals donate their expertise to help small businesses thrive? The numbers tell an incredible story: 25,000 businesses supported, 180,000 hours of mentorship delivered
Behind these achievements are our small business mentors—the heart of our community. Today, we’re celebrating the exceptional volunteers who went above and beyond in 2025.
Come and meet them here ⬇️
Marketing mentor – Claire Randon
The first, much-coveted award of Marketing Mentor goes to… Claire! Claire has been with us since March 2024 and in that time she’s delivered over 80 mentoring sessions 🎉
With over 25 years experience working with small businesses and start-ups, Claire is an absolute power house! She helps founders nail their marketing, by making bold choices that align with their business goals. She’s a huge advocate for female founders and makes it her mission to support them on their business journeys.
Praise for Claire:
“Claire is fantastic! She really knows her stuff, and helped to me to visualise and mobilize to the next level with my business vision, website and marketing plan. [Claire] seemed to be able to read my mind and gave so much support and inspiration. She also delivered some honest feedback on my website which I really appreciated – it is so hard to get this when you are a small business owner. I’m so grateful for our sessions and get a lot out of them.”
“Thank you Claire, this first session really got me thinking and gave me some achievable actions to get started with. Your enthusiasm and ability to grasp and help me explore in more detail what I am starting gave me a huge positive boost.”
Leadership mentor – George Ioannou
Meet George, our leadership mentor of 2025! George joined us in 2023 and in that time has delivered over 35 mentoring sessions for our community 🎉
Holding positions as Chief Digital Officer, investor & director, as well as being a founder himself (!), George brings an impressive level of experience to his mentoring sessions.
George has been pivotal in many mentees’ journeys, offering critical leadership advice to help them expand their businesses. As an angel investor, he’s even gone on to invest in some of his mentees’ businesses because of the potential that he’s seen!
Praise for George:
“I have now had several mentoring sessions with George, and he always goes above and beyond in each and every meeting. He is extremely knowledgeable on every topic we have covered, and I always leave each session having learnt so much and with a list of action points to attack! Thank you George, and I’ll see you next time.”
“Being mentored by George has enabled true confidence in my ability to fulfil my business plan. Not only was his mentoring next level but he also provided effective and efficient practical support that has the potential to led to increased sales for my business, which is key to our survival”
Business strategy mentor – Edward Falzon
Since joining us in 2023, Edward has been an exemplary business strategy mentor!
He’s delivered over 35 mentoring sessions and supported our mentees with strategy, fundraising, sustainability, and hiring a team, to name a few 🎉
Edward is a senior operations and technology leader as well as an entrepreneur and non-executive director! He brings a wealth of experience to his mentoring and his mentees love his positive and constructive approach to mentoring.
Praise for Edward:
“I had such an amazing call with Edward. He was extremely helpful in preparing me for my business pitch and gave me valuable feedback that I have now implemented. He is clearly an expert in this area. On a personal note, Edward was a delight to speak with and I felt real synergy on our call. I would highly recommend booking a mentoring session with Edward.”
“Ed has been a super supportive and enthusiastic mentor. We have met a few times now to discuss business planning and pitching and Ed helped me get to the final of a pitching competition. He joins every call with a warm welcome but also gives constructive and direct feedback as needed.”
Most enthusiastic mentor – Lucy Guthrie
This year’s Most Enthusiastic Mentor award was very easy to give! If you’ve met Lucy, you’ll know how energy is absolutely infectious.
Lucy is the founder of Mad Creative, a marketing agency helping small businesses stand out from the crowd. She joined us in 2024 through NatWest’s employee volunteering programme and since then she’s delivered over 40 mentoring sessions!
Whether you’re having a 1:1 mentoring session, joining her Masterclasses, or even having the pleasure of hearing her talk on stage, everyone agrees, her energy is unmatched.
Everything she does is done with a smile and we couldn’t think of anyone more deserving of this award this year!
Praise for Lucy:
“Lucy played a huge part in helping me progress. The tools she provided assisted me in setting up my Social Media page, and in my most recent session, she provided me with excellent advice, which I am taking with me as I progress my podcast and marketing campaign. Lucy is highly skilled and provided me with honest, useful feedback. Thank you, Lucy, and to Digital Boost; this is such a useful platform for any new business.”
“Lucy was well prepared, a great listener and really attentive to my needs and offered practical thought provoking suggestions on how I can expand my business. The session was a thoroughly enjoyable and inspirational sharing of knowledge and I can highly recommend Lucy as a mentor… Thank You Lucy for your time, energy and input – it was so beneficial and so appreciated 🙏🏻”
All-round small business mentor – Kimberley Taylor
It’s difficult to pick just one person who shone this year, but Kimberley really went above and beyond for Digital Boost!
Kimberley is the founder of Pink Giraffe Marketing and she helps small businesses get confident marketing their businesses.
Through her volunteering, Kimberley has delivered over 40 mentoring sessions, supported us with speed mentoring sessions at our in-person events and, most recently, facilitated our Small Business Jumpstart programme 🚀
Kimberly has thrown herself into volunteering over the last year and we couldn’t be prouder of the work that she’s done 🩵
Praise for Kimberley:
“A lovely conversation that has really helped me get some much-needed oversight to my marketing situation, many thanks!”
“Kimberley… you built a rapport with me within seconds and I instantly felt like I’ve known you for a while. You were very easy to talk to and as a result I was completely myself. You also understood very quickly where my stumbling block was (social media) and told me to take one platform at a time. I needed to hear that… in addition you gave me some homework to do and hopefully we will have a catch up session in a couple of weeks where I can tell you about all the rambling posts I’m doing on Instagram …I would have you as my mentor any time and I’m so happy to have met you.”
Rising star – Shafaq Shams
So many incredible volunteers have joined our community this year and we’re very excited to announce Shafaq as our Rising Star of 2025!
Shafaq began mentoring with us through the BT volunteering programme. She is a senior commercial manager and has a wealth of experience having worked at Vodafone, BT and now Gamma!
Shafaq was encouraged to host a Masterclass with us through her employee volunteering programme. Her session was a huge success and she’s gone on to deliver fantastic mentoring sessions for our community. 🎉
Shafaq is continuing to mentor with Digital Boost, sharing her invaluable experience and skills to help founders thrive. We’re excited to see what the future holds for Shafaq 🌟
Praise for Shafaq:
“Shafaq not only helped me understand the many points I raised in a long list of questions but she also went above and beyond to offer help and assistance. I came away with several pages of scribbled notes and so many ideas that my challenge now is to find the time to action everything! It was an inspiring session and I left it energised.”
“Shafaq is extremely knowledgeable in the area of pricing strategy which is what I wanted to hear. Given her very recent and lengthy background in large commercial organisations her inside experience and mindset was particularly relevant to us since this is our target audience.”
Outstanding Service Awards
This year, we recognised small business mentors in our community who have delivered outstanding service throughout their time with Digital Boost.
All our winners have delivered hundreds of mentoring sessions, delivered exceptional Masterclasses, and/or supported us at in-person events and beyond.
We’re extremely grateful for their incredible support and we’re delighted to be recognising their outstanding service to Digital Boost! 🎉
A huge congratulations to:
- Matteo Beroldo
- Callum Finlayson
- Gurpreet Dhillon
- Nick Howe
- Paul Davis
- Ian de Cordova
- Nishanth Logeswaran
- Martina Molinari
- Alvaro Hurtado
Thank you to our Small Business Mentors!
We’re extremely fortunate to have such a wonderful community of small business mentors, giving their time to founders and making a difference in the world.
If you’ve ever volunteered with us, we just want to say a huge thank you – we appreciate you!
If you’ve been inspired by our Small Business Mentors of the Year and fancy joining our community of volunteers – we’d love to have you onboard! 🥳
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