
Our Founder and CEO - Jayne Allman
Jayne is a multi skilled, experienced Chief Executive, Business Advisor and Social Entrepreneur! She enjoys helping to make a positive impact on communities, by collaborating with others, using their strengths to complement her own and work together to achieve joint goals. She is passionate about her work and is very versatile having worked in various roles over the past 37 years. She has run her own business, worked as a Legal Executive and as a SFEDI Accredited Business Advisor for over 25 years. She has managed teams including volunteers, project managed a £1m lottery funded contract and now is leading the social enterprise/registered charity she started in 2014. According to Jayne's mum, she was an entrepreneur from an early age at 6yrs old, when she set up a stall outside her house to sell items to people passing by. Jayne started Banana with just £200 of personal funds and grew the charity to a turnover of £90k within 3 years. Natwest Bank listed Banana Enterprise Network in the top 10 of the fastest growing social enterprises in the UK in 2016. As at January 2022 Banana Enterprise has supported over 1700 unemployed people.
Jayne is a multi skilled, experienced Chief Executive, Business Advisor and Social Entrepreneur! She enjoys helping to make a positive impact on communities, by collaborating with others, using their strengths to complement her own and work together to achieve joint goals. She is passionate about her work and is very versatile having worked in various roles over the past 37 years. She has run her own business, worked as a Legal Executive and as a SFEDI Accredited Business Advisor for over 25 years. She has managed teams including volunteers, project managed a £1m lottery funded contract and now is leading the social enterprise/registered charity she started in 2014. According to Jayne's mum, she was an entrepreneur from an early age at 6yrs old, when she set up a stall outside her house to sell items to people passing by. Jayne started Banana with just £200 of personal funds and grew the charity to a turnover of £90k within 3 years. Natwest Bank listed Banana Enterprise Network in the top 10 of the fastest growing social enterprises in the UK in 2016. As at January 2022 Banana Enterprise has supported over 1700 unemployed people.

Sam Addison - Trustee
Sam spent 25 years working in Civil Engineering around the world for contractors and consultants culminating in bringing in a £4m project in the UAE on time, under budget and to a high quality. For the past 20 years he has been working with his wife in their Opticians practice dealing with the financial side of the business. He has also built his own detached house and runs a portfolio of rental properties. Sam was a governor at Birchwood Community High School for 12 years and has been a member of Rotary for 9 years (as at 2020). He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience of business management and development, project management and building/property management to our Board of Trustees/Directors. He is passionate about our work with unemployed and low income families and is also passionate about preserving our heritage buildings.
Sam spent 25 years working in Civil Engineering around the world for contractors and consultants culminating in bringing in a £4m project in the UAE on time, under budget and to a high quality. For the past 20 years he has been working with his wife in their Opticians practice dealing with the financial side of the business. He has also built his own detached house and runs a portfolio of rental properties. Sam was a governor at Birchwood Community High School for 12 years and has been a member of Rotary for 9 years (as at 2020). He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience of business management and development, project management and building/property management to our Board of Trustees/Directors. He is passionate about our work with unemployed and low income families and is also passionate about preserving our heritage buildings.
Trustee - Norma Lee
Norma lives in Bolton. She has a great deal of experience of supporting our particular client group, including working with offenders in prisons and working as a panel member on the Youth Offending team in Bolton. She has also run her own business and appreciates the ups and downs of self-employment. Norma is Clerk of Bolton Quakers and a highly regarded member of the community. She has worked as an Office Manager and is highly competent at administrative and managerial tasks including the HR function and managing staff. Norma enjoys researching into local history. She is also an avid Salford Reds rugby fan too and brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to our charity. |

Trustee - James Clarke
Jim lives in Farnworth and runs a local interest group called Friends of Moses Gate Group. He has been with us on our Rock Hall journey since 2020 and is one of our most active voluteers. Jim has a wealth of experience on community engagement, local history, practical/building skills and is passionate about the work of our charity, especially, with regards to our Save Rock Hall project.
Jim appeared on BBC Radio Manchester - he was interviewed about the Rock Hall project.
Jim lives in Farnworth and runs a local interest group called Friends of Moses Gate Group. He has been with us on our Rock Hall journey since 2020 and is one of our most active voluteers. Jim has a wealth of experience on community engagement, local history, practical/building skills and is passionate about the work of our charity, especially, with regards to our Save Rock Hall project.
Jim appeared on BBC Radio Manchester - he was interviewed about the Rock Hall project.

Barbara Goulding - Trustee
Barbara lives in Little Lever and has been an avid supporter of our Rock Hall project from the outset. She was Treasurer of a local sports club for many years and her skills, local knowldge and contacts are an asset to our Charity.
Moses Gate Park was her former "playground" as a child and the restoration of Rock Hall is something she is extremely passionate about. Barbara has appeared on our project's 2021 film.
Barbara lives in Little Lever and has been an avid supporter of our Rock Hall project from the outset. She was Treasurer of a local sports club for many years and her skills, local knowldge and contacts are an asset to our Charity.
Moses Gate Park was her former "playground" as a child and the restoration of Rock Hall is something she is extremely passionate about. Barbara has appeared on our project's 2021 film.

Trustee - Nick Tyldesley
Nick’s background is in education and curriculum management as well as school improvement. He has worked as an educational consultant for many years and has also worked with OFSTED. He has wide experience in managing educational change, networking, leading workshops on innovation. He also has a substantial record of educational publications on curriculum development too. Nick is an excellent communicator and an inspirational speaker. He is highly experienced with regards to team management, project management, quality assurance and performance management. His management and leadership skills are an asset to our charitable organisation.
Nick’s background is in education and curriculum management as well as school improvement. He has worked as an educational consultant for many years and has also worked with OFSTED. He has wide experience in managing educational change, networking, leading workshops on innovation. He also has a substantial record of educational publications on curriculum development too. Nick is an excellent communicator and an inspirational speaker. He is highly experienced with regards to team management, project management, quality assurance and performance management. His management and leadership skills are an asset to our charitable organisation.

Ken Morton - Trustee
Ken has worked on large scale community projects for Housing Associations. He is an experienced Project Manager, Community manager and volunteer manager. He currently works for the NHS. He is also a qualified health and wellbeing management consultant. He supports people through education and training, improves communities and enjoys making a difference!. He is also a tutor of health and well being topics such as mindfulness techniques, anxiety busting, confidence boosting and has great empathy with people. He has managed community teams and successfully delivered outcomes/projects.
Ken has worked on large scale community projects for Housing Associations. He is an experienced Project Manager, Community manager and volunteer manager. He currently works for the NHS. He is also a qualified health and wellbeing management consultant. He supports people through education and training, improves communities and enjoys making a difference!. He is also a tutor of health and well being topics such as mindfulness techniques, anxiety busting, confidence boosting and has great empathy with people. He has managed community teams and successfully delivered outcomes/projects.
Christopher Allman Christopher is a Chartered Accountant with over 30 years experience. Throughout his career, he has supported both large and small businesses with business planning, accountancy, audit work and bookkeeping and has also provided freelance support to other Accountants. Like Jayne, he is on a mission to "make a difference" and bring communities together. Chris says "I am an Accountant who has a sense of humour. I found myself qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 1976, 12 years after completing a Degree in Electrical Engineering! I discovered that I had a flair for figures and so my number crunching journey began! |

Malcolm Hewitt - Senior Trainer
Malcolm has an extensive career as a trainer delivering business planning and start up courses and workshops as well as personal development and impact training. He is a member of the CIPD, runs his own business and has great empathy with our clients. He makes our courses fun and informative, bringing personal "self-employment" experiences into our "real world" training!
Malcolm has an extensive career as a trainer delivering business planning and start up courses and workshops as well as personal development and impact training. He is a member of the CIPD, runs his own business and has great empathy with our clients. He makes our courses fun and informative, bringing personal "self-employment" experiences into our "real world" training!
© 2014-2022 Banana Enterprise Network – the charity “helping to remove barriers to self-employment ’ is registered in England and Wales as a company limited by guarantee, no. 9133991 and a registered charity, no. 1161408