A leading figure from the global startup business community will meet with Scottish female founders and business angels at an event being hosted by Investing Women Angels next week. Ken Valledy, an international business adviser, entrepreneur, and co-author of The Startup Lexicon: Demystifying the Everyday Language of Startups, will address the audience next Thursday, 19 January.

Mr Valledy spent two decades with leading companies including Whitbread, Tesco, and Anheuser-Busch InBev in global strategic branding roles. He has also served as a mentor to a number of internationally renowned organisations including Microsoft Venture and Seedcamp, Europe’s largest micro-seed investment fund and mentoring programme. In 2016 he co-founded Progressive Acceleration, an organisation that partners best-in-class startups with global businesses to unlock and commercialise new ideas. The Startup Lexicon, co-written with Eamonn Carey, was first published last June.

At next week’s event, he will engage in a conversation with the female audience highlighting aspects of his own entrepreneurial journey with a two-way discussion focused around how new and emerging businesses can accelerate growth within the global economy.

Lisl MacDonald, an Investing Women Angels board member and key organiser behind the event, said: “Ken is a highly regarded and accomplished businessman and entrepreneur, and we are delighted to introduce him to our network. His book, co-authored by Eamonn Carey, is an important contribution as it demystifies much of the jargon used in the startup space.

“We look forward to hearing his insights on the global startup and innovation community and how it can be better accessed by women right here in Scotland.”