Oli Barrett

Oli is a founder of Cospa, helping companies and causes to create and grow ventures which make money and make a difference. A good example of this is by helping young people to fix their own youth clubs, with a well-known DIY chain. He started Tenner, the scheme which has challenged over 50,000 school pupils to see what they can achieve in one month, starting with £10. He brought speed-networking to the UK and has hosted and spoken at events around the world. He leads regular trade missions to the US, India and Brazil helping British companies (in health, clean-tech and web) to explore business opportunities. Oli’s earlier entrepreneurial career included a student events business, an international language practice website (sold in 2008) and a sock subscription website. He is a co-director of Areté Club (a private members club in London bringing together the different worlds of security, politics, business, development and the arts) and is a co-founder and director of StartUp Britain.