Trainers
& Mentors
Tree Shepherd Training
We offer free training, workshops, courses and confidential 1-1 online business clinics. Whether you are just starting out, have a vague idea, or a firmer business plan, please get in touch with a member of our friendly team.
Our Trainers
Trainer
Anita Thorpe
Anita Thorpe is a freelance trainer and retailer who tutors on The Tree Shepherd “Start Your Own Enterprise” course.
Anita has worked as a trainer for 20 years, developing managers and staff in the not-for-profit sector. In 1999, she set up Diverse, a popular design-led gift shop in Brixton, south London.
She now combines her training and retailing experience to help new and established business owners develop their own successful enterprises.
As a practising business owner Anita has a real understanding of the day-to-day challenges of running a business and is uniquely placed to advise on resources and strategies for business sustainability.
Trainer
Lisa Newton
Lisa Newton has a Masters Degree in Investment Management and a first class Honours Degree in Accounting with Marketing and is AAT qualified. She formed her first company in 2004 with £150 in the same month of graduating from City University, London, UK.
Lisa holds directorships in various industries including telecoms, property management, publishing, hair & beauty as well as finance. She has won awards in business including Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2007, Enterprising Business in 2008, BE Mogul in 2016.
Lisa works mainly with small businesses on their money management and bookkeeping. Lisa can often be found writing books on business and in the non-fiction genre. Her books include How to Write a Book in Two Weeks, Constant Cashflow, Make the Most of Your Money, How to Start Your Own Bookkeeping Business and How to Franchise Your Business. Lisa also enjoys traveling frequently across the globe to practice yoga.
Trainer
Georgina Wilson
Georgina is a serial entrepreneur and has always had a passion for nurturing businesses; she has been in the market place for over 15 years. She is a public and motivational speaker, teacher, trainer, mentor, author, and owner of a community café in South London. Her main aim is to see others thrive in their businesses, turning their passions into profits.
Georgina’s ethos is to empower others to achieve their goals.
Her experience enables her to assist with all areas of business development; however, her specialties are business growth, marketing, branding and sales. Georgina has coached and mentored small businesses In South London. Therefore, she has a good understanding of the area and general vibe which will help in creating the right strategy for your business.
Trainer
Lere Fisher
Lere is a unique and experienced trainer who is able to work with a diverse group of people using a range of learning styles which promote Learning and Development to the people he is working with.
His expertise in subject matters Emotional Intelligence, Customer Service, Performance Management and Leadership Skills promises an personable and engaging experience. He is ILM qualified and has 3 years experience in being the Regional Training Manager for Specsavers, including facilitating training to ensure the technical learning of the group is challenging, accurate and business relevant.
Trainer
Marilena Dyranis-Maounis
Production/Event manager and facilitator, her past experience includes being a Global Action Plan ambassador and a Lead Positive Change trainer.
Trained in pitching, strategics, NLP, managing volunteers, funding, leadership, negotiations and marketing, her skills include harvesting, preparing assignments, graphic materials for event input and output and event hosting.
Trainer and Mentor
William Washington Welch
William Washington Welch is an accomplished senior consultant with a collaborative leadership style, boasting over 25 years of experience in both the private and public sectors, including international donor agencies such as USAid and the European Union Development Fund. He has a proven track record of guiding corporates, SMEs, and charities through their development phase and securing funding for various projects.
William’s career began at Richer Sounds, where he managed the London Bridge flagship store during a period of exceptional growth. He then founded and led his own company for three years before becoming the head of the consulting department at Ernst and Young in Kingston, Jamaica, where he played a pivotal role in the company’s success for over eight years.
His expertise lies in providing market insights, securing funding, and offering advice to businesses in areas of growth, capacity building, marketing, strategic management, and sustainability. William is passionate about collaborating with visionary leaders to support organisations, entrepreneurs, and communities, making him a tremendous asset in creating positive impact and livelihoods.
Our Mentors
Trainer and Mentor
William Washington Welch
William Washington Welch is an accomplished senior consultant with a collaborative leadership style, boasting over 25 years of experience in both the private and public sectors, including international donor agencies such as USAid and the European Union Development Fund. He has a proven track record of guiding corporates, SMEs, and charities through their development phase and securing funding for various projects.
William’s career began at Richer Sounds, where he managed the London Bridge flagship store during a period of exceptional growth. He then founded and led his own company for three years before becoming the head of the consulting department at Ernst and Young in Kingston, Jamaica, where he played a pivotal role in the company’s success for over eight years.
His expertise lies in providing market insights, securing funding, and offering advice to businesses in areas of growth, capacity building, marketing, strategic management, and sustainability. William is passionate about collaborating with visionary leaders to support organisations, entrepreneurs, and communities, making him a tremendous asset in creating positive impact and livelihoods.
Mentor
Dr Natalie Schoon
Dr Natalie Schoon, CFA, LLM, is a result driven professional with a broad background across the financial industry. She has lived and worked in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia working with both small and large organisations in the financial services industry. She has successfully completed a range of regulatory change projects in the UK and the EU; regulatory compliance reviews; and a gap analysis in relation to IFRS 9.
She has undertaken an advisory role on a World Bank project for mortgage lending in Pakistan and made a significant contribution to a scoping study for the further development of access to finance, gender equality, and poverty alleviation or the Prosperity Fund (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) in Turkey.
At the Agricultural Development Fund in Afghanistan, she headed up the Islamic financial services section and was responsible for the design, implementation, and management of the Islamic financial services offered to SME firms in the agricultural sector with an uptake over 50% of the portfolio.
Mentor
Lawrence Wilson
With a 20-year sales background running his own business and employed by SMEs and corporate organisations, Lawrence has dedicated himself to helping business owners realise their sales ambitions.
Lawrence started his career in business development and ‘cold calling’ for his mother’s catering business and an IT services SME, then moved to Pitney Bowes and Otis Lifts, the US corporates where he received first class sales training. He has a wealth of experience in managing key accounts, enterprise sales, business development and consultative selling.
He really honed his craft and knowledge running his own consulting business for 5 years, helping small and micro businesses from various sectors develop and execute their plans for growth.
No matter where you are – inexperienced, frustrated at the way things are going or simply looking to refresh or improve your sales knowledge , Lawrence can offer practical and proven digital and offline techniques and systems (and not just theory!!) to help supercharge your sales.
Mentor
Tiffany McLean
Tiffany McLean is a Business & Leadership Coach and Marketing Strategist and has worked with Senior Managers and Executives in the U.S., U.K. and Europe helping them to gain clarity and consciousness in their working practices and overcome challenges.
Tiffany currently holds a BA and PG Dip in Business Management, and a Diploma in Transformational Coaching. Tiffany has worked as an Operations Manager for a major global manufacturing company and currently contracts as a Project Manager to one of the UK’s leading local authorities.
In 2018, Tiffany McLean Coaching was started, focusing on helping others to achieve their dreams. Her passion is to help small business owners to generate more leads, conversions and transactions for their business.
Originally from America, Tiffany has been living in South East London for over 16 years and is passionate about the area and wishes to help more local small business owners thrive.
Mentor
Graham Laylee
Graham is a Retired Chartered Accountant who has been an shareholder director of two successful businesses in the Regeneration and Business Services Sectors.
After selling his last business, he held a number of Non Executive positions including that of Audit Chair at NHS Lambeth CCG. He has been a volunteer Mentor/Business Advisor at Tree Shepherd for nearly 10 years.
Grahams specific skills are in the areas of finance, financial planning, property and key account sales management.
Mentor
George Broom
With no idea what to do in life at 18 years old, George found his first job selling commercial window cleaning contracts in Central London in 1988, where he quickly learnt how to sell, roll out and manage large projects. This led to him being headhunted in 1994 into a much larger company, where he was involved with the bidding and project management of support service contracts for the likes of Gatwick Airport and the European Parliament building in Strasbourg.
In 1997 he started his own company providing cleaning, waste management and soft services to a wide variety of commercial customers from FTSE100 companies to SMEs. Running a number of successful businesses over the years, George has developed an in-depth knowledge of detailed business planning, recruitment, training and staff development. He has experience in financing and developing commercial business premises, as well as creating and enacting successful marketing strategies. George has guided his various organisations through some very major changes over the years, helping not only the businesses, but also his staff to cope and thrive through times of change.
Mentor
Bob Bell
No matter what their size, all businesses operate under the same basic principles. Throughout his working career, Bob has been looking at companies and how they perform. Seen the good and the bad decisions made by them and how sometimes they have been drastically affected by circumstances outside of their control.
Obviously nobody can plan for the unknown but you can be aware of things that might happen. Bob can help with your business plans, which maybe complex spreadsheets or just you saying what’s in your head. Having heard your plans he can give his opinion of things to consider. If you are looking for finance (loan or grant) Bob can help you prepare your application. Of course you may just want somebody to bounce ideas off before going further and he is happy to do that.
Mentor
Kevin Hodge
Kevin has a degree in Economics and Accountancy and is a CIMA qualified accountant. Kevins experience is mainly within finance and project deliver professional. Kevin has worked for various organisation from global corporations to small charities and led the budgeting, forecasting, reporting, and controlling activities, and managed various projects. He is looking forward to working with local entrepreneurs to help them further develop their organisations.