Why This Non-profit Started Accepting Bitcoin | Dr Sheela Sharma #219

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

LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/06sBiOznJDxuhafDmkE9VK?si=3f0a8bb8abd64eec

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-bitcoin-collective/id1561573613

Fountain: https://fountain.fm/show/AYHiNhTTv0HOgGEjRjWN

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bitcoincollective?sub_confirmation=1

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.