Mark Hart who is Professor of Small Business and Entrepreneurship in Aston Business School leads The Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses programme in the Midlands.

He is also Deputy Director of the new national Enterprise Research Centre which is jointly hosted at Aston University and the University of Warwick.

Over the last 35 years, Professor Hart has worked and published extensively in the areas of entrepreneurship, enterprise and small business development and policy.

He jointly manages the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) project in the UK and advises a number of UK Government Departments and the Devolved Administrations on enterprise issues.