“Excuse me! We need help! Excuse me! We need help!”
The cry from the back of the easyJet plane, en route to Lisbon from Manchester, tore through the peaceful hum of the cabin.
A gentleman, taken ill, was helped to a seat. Cabin crew rushed to his aid and he would recover in time. But who was the everyday hero who raised the alarm from the cheap seats at the back of the plane?
Only the captain of Manchester United Bruno Fernandes.
Up to that moment, largely anonymous among the holiday makers and startup founders headed for Web Summit, Bruno again found himself the centre of attention after notching four goals in four games and making his 250th appearance for United at the weekend.
Fellow passenger Susanna Lawson was one of those heading to Web Summit as part of GM Business Growth Hub’s ASCEND Scale Up Programme when the drama unfolded.
Lawson, who is the founder of EdTech OneFile and startup Circle of Trust, recalled the midair emergency.
“Bruno went to the loo at the back of the plane during the flight,” she said. “(We) suddenly heard a shout for assistance which those within hearing distance looked back, including us as we were toward the back.
“Bruno was holding a gentleman who looked like he was passing out. I don’t know if he lost consciousness or not.
“Someone else from the ASCEND programme had seen the guy passing them looking like he might have been unwell.
“Members of the crew rushed to the back to help. There was a spare seat at the back which Bruno helped the gentleman to sit down on.
“He stayed at the back with them and made sure he was OK. It might have been about 5-10 minutes and then he made his way back to his seat but again very unassuming. He wasn’t looking for any attention on himself.”
Once the drama had unfolded, Lawson had a photo taken with the star.
“He was very unassuming,” she said. “Unless you knew who he was you would never have known he was anyone special if you know what I mean.
“We were not sure whether to ask him for a selfie because of that. He didn’t mention Man Utd at all.”
Fernandes was travelling with his team-mate Diogo Dalot ahead of their game for Portugal against Poland on Friday.
Business advisor and co-founder of Apadmi, Howard Simms, was one of those in the selfie along with Heather Waters, network manager at GM Business Growth Hub
Lawson recalled: “When I asked him politely for a selfie as we were leaving the plane he was absolutely lovely and actually took the selfie himself.
“I praised him for looking after the ill passenger. Honestly if you didn’t know who he was you would have just thought he was any other passenger.”
Web Summit itself is hardly short of star power. Europe’s biggest tech conference was kicked off on Monday evening by rapper-producer Pharrell Williams, who discussed the intersection of culture and commerce with Frank Cooper III, CMO of Visa, taking in the role of philanthropy in modern business.
Pharrell told the assembled crowds from the event’s main stage that “the American dream is not about making the most money”, adding that the “human dream… should be about spending the most time doing something that you love”.
That certainly seems to be the theme of the Happy star’s new biopic Piece by Piece, which tells the story of his life through Lego.
It will also have struck a chord with some of the 3,000 startup founders attending the event this year – among a wider audience of 70,000 – as they look to change the world through technology.
Dr Christoph Meinert, for one, is revolutionising drug development by enabling pharmaceutical companies to grow human tissue in a petri dish. The German CEO and co-founder is long-established in Australia, where Gelomics was crowned winner of KPMG’s national Tech Innovator awards in August.
There will be more to come from Dr Meinert on BusinessCloud before Wednesday, when he will pitch alongside 22 other national winners in the KPMG Global Tech Innovator final. We have also spoken to UK winner Dr Henrietta Boyd, CEO & co-founder of Hull-based recycling trailblazer Halocycle; and Emma Meehan, CEO, CTO & founder of Irish champion Precision Sports Technology, a developer of software providing real-time feedback and analysis on movement competency during exercise without the need for wearable sensors.
We will also be covering some of the businesses on GM Business Growth Hub’s ASCEND programme – many of whom were on Bruno’s flight – as well as other up-and-coming players in UK tech attending Web Summit.
Our ‘From the Summit’ daily dispatch email will be sent out at the end of each day of the Web Summit tech conference in Lisbon. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive it in your inbox.
Web Summit Tuesday highlights: 5 to watch
Beyond chatbots: How AI will redefine global trade
10.20-10.40am, Centre Stage
Kuo Zhang, President, Alibaba.com
Adapt and thrive, the new era of digital media
11.25-11.45am, Stage 3 Pavilion 1
Christian Broughton, CEO, The Independent
Danielle Belton, Editor-in-Chief, The Huffington Post
Thorsten Dörting, Deputy Editor-in-chief, Der Spiegel – Hamburg Office
A new Trump era
12.40-1.00pm, Centre Stage
Richard Schiff, actor, Star of ‘The West Wing’
Katherine Maher, CEO, NPR
DeRay Mckesson, Civil Rights Activist & Podcaster, Pod Save The People
Feel the churn – lifecycle talent management
1.35-1.55pm, Stage 8 Pavilion 3
Abakar Saidov, Co-founder & CEO, Beamery
Frederico Alecrim, Author, Entrepreneur & Podcast Host, Varejocast
A pitch-perfect partnership in sport and tech
1.55-2.20pm, Stage 16 Pavilion 5
Don McGuire, CMO, Qualcomm
Omar Berrada, CEO, Manchester United
Lara O’Reilly, Senior Correspondent, Business Insider
Web Summit: How can a tech event for 70,000 people be ‘intimate’?