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A nonprofit in West London is accepting Bitcoin donations to fund the next generation of entrepreneurs — and it all started with one conversation at a judging panel.
Sheela Sharma is CEO of Portobello Business Centre, a 30-year-old nonprofit that helps underserved entrepreneurs — 70% of them women — start and grow their own businesses. Before that, she spent 14 years in investment banking, including as an equity analyst at Merrill Lynch covering medical devices and pharma. She came in knowing nothing about finance. She left as a COO.
🇬🇧 Portobello Business Centre are members of BBN. Join the UK Bitcoin Business Network here: https://bitcoincollective.co/bbn/
Contact Sheela:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-sheela-sharma/
Website: https://www.pbc.co.uk/
00:00 Opening clip — Bitcoin donations for entrepreneurs
00:40 Introduction and welcome
01:30 From Oxford DPhil to Merrill Lynch — the unlikely pivot
03:30 Learning to value medical technology companies
05:30 "What is a share price?" — the interview moment
06:30 14 years in investment banking: analyst to COO
07:30 Why she left — and what pushed her out
08:30 Joining Portobello Business Centre as chair, then CEO
10:00 The brands PBC has supported — Innocent Drinks, Charlie Bigham's, Karen Millen
12:00 Why PBC started accepting Bitcoin
14:00 Getting set up: Strike, Coin Corner and the Sustainable Society Trust
16:30 Understanding Bitcoin six months in
19:00 The utility of Bitcoin as a payment and store of value
21:00 Financial education in the UK — what's missing
24:00 Should entrepreneurship be taught in schools?
27:30 The scrunchie business — born at age 11
31:00 Roberta Huntington, Vinted and the power of simple ideas
34:00 Entrepreneurship as mindset — can it be taught?
39:00 The businesses PBC supports today
44:00 Why storytelling wins pitches
45:00 B Corp certification explained
48:00 The Bitcoin and B Corp community overlap
53:00 Bitcoin's future role in funding early-stage entrepreneurs
59:00 One piece of advice for anyone thinking about starting a business
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This episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice.
⸻EDITED BY JAMES PEARCE
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-pearcesf/
Available now on YouTube and all major podcast platforms.
No transcript available for this episode.
The Bitcoin Collective