Welcome to my journal.
Get an insight into my day-to-day work and my perspective on key issues.
‘Everything I've Learnt, I Learnt on the Street’: Ten Years Learning from Sesame
Last week in New York I attended what was my final in-person board meeting as a Trustee and Board Director of Sesame Workshop, the creators of Sesame Street.
When my term concludes later this year, I will have served the maximum ten years on the Board and, as I sat around the board table for the last time, I found myself reflecting less on the meetings, papers and governance responsibilities, and more on what an extraordinary privilege it has been to witness close-up the work of an organisation whose mission is simple, profound and urgently needed: to help kids grow smarter, stronger and kinder. And what a difference it makes to millions of children's lives.
Only Labour can deliver the stability businesses need
Under the Conservatives, entrepreneurs have lived with chaos, drama and – from time to time – farce. Stability will give business leaders confidence and with confidence comes growth.
How Labour can unleash our entrepreneurs and kick-start growth
Trickle-down economics has failed and continues to fail, and our economy has stopped growing. We are the only G7 nation to still have an economy smaller than it was pre-pandemic. And the IMF recently forecast that the UK will be among the worst performing economies in the G20 in 2023.
So what can Labour propose in order to avoid another decade of low growth and lots of inequality? ….
…. An entrepreneurial mindset places value in curiosity and innovation, constantly iterating for building growth and cultivating meaningful relationships, partnerships and collaborations.
Healthy Leadership: TESCO's Golden Opportunity
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 their competitors. How, you ask?
A Resolution to an Unhealthy Problem
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 the success of the British economy: employing over 300,000 people and operating over 4,000 stores in the UK alone and selling us over £50Billion of food each year (Statistica.com 2016). As the founder and former CEO of a company supplying into the behemoth, I know what clout the company has not only in the supply chain of British retail, but in what foods we eat as a nation. It's not an exaggeration to say that the decisions it takes affect us all.
Business as Usual?
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 that we also therefore have an unprecedented opportunity to learn, innovate and improve the way we do things: including- perhaps especially- around business.
Could your idea change the world?
In February 2019, our inaugural competition took place at the University of Reading, with ten finalists pitching their ideas to an audience of purpose-driven entrepreneurs and business leaders, who voted for Alexander, a young man from Peru, with an audacious idea to create a quinoa and tarwi based milk from the wild slopes of the Andes.
Bring Humanity Back to Business
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 successful. They hire and fire, buy and sell, invest and divest. Every action a company takes is a decision made by a person.
Just IMAGINE if - Business was Always a Force of Good
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 could make a genuine impact to reduce childhood obesity.
It's these dreams that led me to establish 'just IMAGINE if...', an annual, university-hosted, business-focused, non-profit competition to address the UN's Sustainable Development Goals - the 2019 final was at the University of Reading in February.
Just IMAGINE if - Nothing was Impossible
Just IMAGINE if... is an innovation and social enterprise competition designed to find business ideas to help address our global problems
The three little words 'just imagine if...' have started endless sentences in my head, ever since I was a toddler.
