Nigel Kershaw, Chief Executive is a leading social entrepreneur and advocate of social enterprises that offer business solutions to social problems. In July 2007 he was nominated as Director of the Month by the Institute of Directors. In October 2007 he was appointed a Social Enterprise Ambassador by the Cabinet Office.

Big Issue Invest, founded by The Big Issue, is a specialised provider of finance to social enterprises. Big Issue Invest is now well established with nearly £5 million of loans disbursed in the last eighteen months to a range of exciting social businesses. Big Issue Invest is about to launch a £10m Acquisition Syndicate to buy private companies and back them into existing well-managed social enterprises to help scale-up the growth and impact of leading social enterprises. It is also embarking on a feasibility study to add in alternative predictive data, such as rent payments, to traditional credit scoring models that may bring as many as 750,000 low-income people into affordable and regulated credit and away from predatory lenders.

Nigel is also Chairman of The Big Issue Co. Ltd. He joined in 1995 and as Executive Chairman and Managing Director was responsible for the magazine's publishing operations, as well as developing its new social businesses. Last year The Big Issue generated £15 million pounds in the UK economy through its 175,000 weekly sales of the magazine and of that homeless and vulnerably housed people earned £9 million.

Previous to that, he worked as a consultant and project manager in the publishing and printing sector, taking major capital projects from conception to production. He has founded two printing and publishing companies. Trained as a lithographic printer, he gained his Diploma at the London College of Printing.

Nigel is also a Director of the Social Enterprise Coalition and a director and advisor to a number of social enterprises. He has also been a non-executive director of a London borough's regeneration company and Chair of the Board of the London College of Communications (London University of the Arts).