The contributions of a number of Bristol business and cultural figures have this week been recognised by UWE by awarding them honorary degrees. 
Kalpna Woolf, pictured right, the founder of the innovative charity 91 Ways to Build A Global City – which reaches out to unite all the 91 language communities in Bristol – received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Business Administration in recognition of her contribution and commitment to economic and social equality and diversity initiatives in Bristol.
Rob Law MBE, pictured left, the founder and CEO of Trunki, the brand behind the child’s ride-on suitcase, was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Business Administration in recognition of his contribution and commitment to enterprise and entrepreneurship.
Vanessa Moon, pictured right, co-founder and managing director leading executive search firm Moon Consulting, was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Business Administration in recognition of her contribution and commitment to enterprise development, the third sector and the local community.
Also receiving honorary degrees this week were author, TV presenter and producer David Olusoga, for his contribution to the public understanding of the past, and John Akomfrah, a seminal figure in Black British Cinema, in recognition of his contribution and commitment to arts and moving images.
Kalpna Woolf completed her early education in London culminating in a BA Hons in Russian from University of London, Queen Mary College. Since she came to Bristol 20 years ago she has been a major influencer for change – both at senior board and grassroots level. After an award-winning career at the BBC, where she was head of production overseeing a £100m global business including the BBC’s world-renowned Natural History Unit (including Planet Earth, Antiques Roadshow, Rick Stein, Countryfile and many other factual series), Kalpna was recognised for her work in the media in 2013, winning the national Asian Women’s Achievement Award.
She continues to work within the creative sector and alongside this has established an impressive portfolio career underpinned by her business track record and her passion for social justice and equality. She has held positions on business and charity boards including chair of trustees for Frank Water, business advisor and chair of the Skills Group to the West of England LEP board. Her board work and drive for inclusive and economic equality has led her to launch the BeOnBoard programme, which is striving to deliver diversity on business boards.
She devised a Masters programme in Production Management in the Media for UWE and was awarded Visiting Professorship for the Faculty of Business and Law.
Three years since launching 91 Ways, it has run Peace Cafes connecting more than 10,000 people at over 100 events and modelled a template for similar projects to be rolled out in other cities in the UK.
Rob Law has gone from one of the most famous rejections on BBC Dragons’ Den in 2006 to successfully building a team which has pioneered a new retail category of children’s travel products.
Since Trunki launched in May 2006, the company has sold 3.8msuitcases in more than 100 countries with consumers spending $200m on his brand. Trunki employs 25 people at its funky head office in Bristol, called The Mothership, and a further 55 people at its UK manufacturing and distribution facility Magma Moulding in Plymouth.
The company has won more than 120 awards within the design, trade, consumer and business sectors including reaching 42nd on The Sunday Times Fast Track 100 and winning The National Business Awards SME of the Year.
Rob graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in Product Design in 2000 from the University of Northumbria and has worked internationally, including periods in New York, Taiwan, Australia and for some of the UK’s leading design consultancies.
In 2011 he was awarded an MBE for Services to Business, and went on to receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Engineering from Bath University in 2015.
He is passionate about inspiring future business leaders and designers, as well as a judge for several national business awards, he also holds the following pro bono positions:
Vanessa Moon co-founded Moon Consulting in 2000 perceiving a need for a return to the personal touch in senior level recruitment and is a firm advocate of the company’s core values of being distinctive, ethical and approachable in all their undertakings.
The firm has grown steadily to a full-service team of 11 managing high-level and confidential executive search and head hunting campaigns for clients in the UK and Internationally ranging from start-ups, family-owned concerns, major banks as well as AIM and FTSE Listed businesses. They also have significant experience in the not-for-profit and charity sectors.
Vanessa herself brings 30 years’ senior management and board level executive recruitment experience. Prior to Moon Consulting, she graduated from Aston University in 1983 with a BSc (Hons) in Human Communication and then worked for Rank Xerox. After that she worked for a US-owned accountancy recruitment firm, moving to Bristol in 1992 to manage its regional office. She then joined a venture capital-backed search firm before setting up Moon.
Outside of business Vanessa has always been involved with the wider Bristol community and is currently senior warden of the Bristol Guild of Guardians and was appointed president of the Dolphin Society for 2017/2018. She is a member of the South West regional council of the CBI and is on the advisory board of The Faculty of Business and Law for The Bristol Business School at UWE. She is on the committee of the Lord Mayor of Bristol’s Children Appeal and Gift Gala, a trustee with The Royal West of England Academy and a former trustee of Spike Island gallery.
