
For four years, I served as the Chair of London's Child Obesity Taskforce. The taskforce was set up as an independent body by the Mayor to London, Sadiq Khan, to make recommendati

A vibrant economy is underpinned by a dynamic culture of innovation and flexible structures that support entrepreneurs with sources of investment capital, knowledge-flow and market opportunitie

First publsihed in The Times Red Box on 14th October 2022. image credited to todayuknews.com As Liz Truss faced Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday she

I had the privilege of seeing HM The Queen just twice in my life. The first time, I was 12 years old at an agricultural show in Lusaka, Zambia and she rode slowly past standing in an open

Yesterday I was honoured to be invited to give a lecture to educationalists, policy makers and students at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London. I had been asked to consider the role u

It’s Friday. A scan of the news this week will tell you that the Met Office issued its first ever extreme heat warnings as the UK reported record temperatures; Sri Lanka’s president fled his count

In May 2022 I was appointed as Chancellor of the University of Reading, the ceremonial head of the University. I am the ninth person to hold the position in Reading’s 96 years as

Yesterday in a speech at the Times CEO Summit, Rachel Reeves once again committed Labour to being the party of business. She amplified Keir Starmer’s pledge, as they put their names to deliver a new

New Ideas. Where do they come from? When we have a new one, why hasn’t anyone thought of it before? How is it that some develop into reality and others don’t? Is it possible to solve g

Right now, the UK’s largest retailer has a momentous opportunity to improve the health of the nation. The opportunity is not only to support the health of their own customers, but also those of

In December I took the plunge and invested £4.80 in two TESCO shares. You’ll know that TESCO is the UK’s biggest supermarket with a 27% market share. It’s a really important company to th

Last autumn London’s Child Obesity Taskforce published Every Child a Healthy Weight: 10 Ambitions for the city’s children, containing 20 specific calls-to-action to the capital’s leaders.

Everything is connected. So says Professor Corinna Hawkes, in a simple three word sentence - that pretty much explains everything -in the middle of a recent fabulous blog on her The Better Food Journe

Yesterday was my birthday. 54 if you’re asking, basically still 42 I’m thinking. I got some lovely thoughtful presents including one that has had my mind both racing and focused for th

Last month I was privileged to be the guest on Holly Tucker’s podcast series: Conversations of Inspiration. Which, in 60 minutes, covered a range of subjects centred around business being the key to

I sent this letter to the Prime Minister on 17 July 2020, ahead of his welcomed and anticipated-to-be-significant review of the National Obesity Strategy: Dear Prime Minister, I hope this lette

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything: exposing the injustices and shortcomings of our society locally and globally. It has also reminded us how much we share, how deeply interconnected we are

First Publsihed on the London.gov website on 31 January 2020 Now that the dust has settled following the publication of 'Every Child a Healthy Weight' I’ve taken a moment to reflect on
First published on the London.gov website 5 Setpember 2019 Eighteen months ago, I submitted my first job application in over 20 years. It was a long shot, but one that I was surprise

It’s not unprecedented to say we live in unprecedented times. Corona Virus means that we do. The good news however, amongst all the chaos and disruption to our economy and health, is th

Percy Shaw’s did. In the early 1930s he wondered why no one had thought of embedding little mirrors in the centre of roads to reflect back oncoming lights at night - a concept of ‘Cat

Believe it or not, businesses don’t exist.People exist. People sign pieces of paper to form companies. People make business decisions, and people receive dividend cheques if those decisions are succ

The phrase ‘just imagine if’ has stayed with me throughout my life. Imagine a world of gender and racial equality. Imagine a world free from businesses polluting our environment. Imagine if we cou

The three little words ‘just imagine if…’ have started endless sentences in my head, ever since I was a toddler. “Just imagine if”, we could send a man to the moon and return him safely

In February I was humbled to be conferred with an Honorary Doctorate by the Univeristy of Bristol. It was a surreal experience, getting robed up and entering the Great Hall to receive a degree exactly

I became a food entrepreneur in my mid-thirties. The lightbulb moment, that trigger to do it, happened as I watched my daughter Ella grow up happily, ‘winning’ at her all-important journey towards

Lent was quite a big thing in my childhood and over the years I gave up everything, from crisps and sweetened breakfast cereals to, bizarrely, Dr Who. Sometimes my Lent restraints remained permanent,
Last week I had the privilege of attending a fundraising reception for Beanstalk, a small charity that recruits, trains and supports volunteers to provide consistent, one-to-one literacy support to ea

In turbulent economic times, it’s tempting for entrepreneurs to batten down the hatches and stay put, lie low and wait for the storm to pass. Indeed, in times of uncertainty we must do all we can to
From tax evasion to emission scandals, to executive pay and working conditions, the last twelve months have been dominated by corporate scandal.It is an issue that soared to the top of the agenda once
Today, CityAM published an Opinion Piece I wrote about how the concept of finding a work-life balance is irrelevant to our modern society, indeed how it's pursuit can cause unmanageable stress.
There are more people under the age of 20 in Africa, than anywhere else in the world, and the continent’s population is set to double to two billion by 2050.It is these young people that have the id
I started Ella’s Kitchen in 2006 with the mission of improving children’s lives by giving them a healthier relationship with food. Nearly ten years on, the business is now the UK’s number one ba
This month, I launched my second start-up. My first - Ella’s Kitchen, is named after my daughter, and is now the number one UK baby food brand. It was conceived simply to improve the lives of childr
Over recent years, the status of the entrepreneur has evolved from that of economic outcast to capitalistic rebel, the brave white knight and bold pioneer of disruption and innovation.But this vision,
Next week I am honoured to be going to Johannesburg as a Counsellor for the One Young World Summit, where 1,300 young delegates will gather from 190 countries to debate many of the world's most pressi
Thousands of British children are going to school hungry every day, while the country faces an obesity and dietary crisis that is costing the NHS £6bn per year. The numbers speak for themselves: Brit