Finishing off our interview, I asked – What advices would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs looking to start their own business? He said:

The theory of evolution claims that only the strong will survive, may be so. However the theory of competition states that even the strong can get their arse‘s kicked!

Continuing with my interview series with the NEF participants, today I interview Louis Mech. Louis is currently working at Talk Talk PLC and today talks us through his journey so far.

This is the Interview.

Hi Louis, Its great to finally have you on YHP, how are you doing today?

I am good thanks; excited to get things moving after the Christmas and New Year break.

Before we move on, could you quickly give us some background information about yourself so that the YHP audience can get to know you better?

Sure, I am a 22 year old recent graduate from Royal Holloway (University of London). When I was 12 my families moved to America; so for the last decade I have been flip flopping between the UK and the US. I consider myself very lucky to have grown up on both sides of the pond. Also I am a sports nut! I enjoy all sports however I particularly love going to watch Rugby on Saturdays and then playing Tennis in the summer.

So Louis, tell me how you got into entrepreneurship, what was your motivation?

I am very dyslexic and entrepreneurship always came more naturally to me than English, French or Physics etc. I think at school I really enjoyed the human element that business studies had over other subjects. Business Studies/ entrepreneurship at school motivated me because I was so rubbish at other subjects! I was the worst in the class at the traditional subjects (religious studies use to bore me to tears) then suddenly I was the best in the class at business studies, a lot of people say improve on your weakness; however I prefer to build upon my strengths.

What was your first business, tell us about your experience running that?

Well I went to boarding school when I was 13 and I was always flying backwards and forward from the UK to the US and vice versa. As a result I use to buy stuff in the US and then sell it at school. Typically the UK is about 6 to 9 months behind the US on trends so I would see what my US friends were wearing or using e.g Ugg’s, Abercrombie clothes and iPods; I would then go and buy some, then sell that stash at school for tuck money, If I bought it forr $100 I would sell it for £100, that’s not bad money when your 14!

After that business, what else did you get involved in?

I got involved with Young Enterprise (a national student enterprise competition) at school and was given the lofty title of ‘Director of Sales’. One of the big YE regional competitions was the Somerset Christmas fair. The intention was that each team would make their own products to sell at the fair however I searched and found a local craft store that was going out of business so I bought their Christmas stock. Needless to say our stall had loaded full of really nice handmade Christmas gifts compared to the other stuff the others were selling. My team had the highest sales but however we lost the competition because we ‘did not compete in the spirit of the YE’ I remember thinking this competition just does not get what enterprise is all about.

So you attended Royal Holloway University? what was the experience like, a lot more people are deciding to go into entrepreneurship straight after school rather going to university, what made you realise that this was the right choice for you?

Well I think entrepreneurship is all about calculated risks; the way I saw it was if I got a University degree that would provide me with a safety net should I ever need to get a “real job” in the city. University is great for serendipity you never know who you will meet or listen to. These random meetings plant the seeds of idea and who knows those ideas might just become successful business. University is a great place to start a business because the down side is so minimal. When suppliers would ask me for personal guarantees I would always say of course. This was because I knew that I owned nothing – what’s the worst they could do, take my dorm room off me! Also University is a lot fun, you can’t beat a boozy nights at the SU dress as a Smurf!

You also studied abroad at University of Georgia, how was that experience, why did you decide to do that?

One of the best experiences of my life! UGA was vote the number one party school in all of the US, so that was a big influence on why I decided to go there.

What would you say were some of the key things that you learnt from that experience?

If you’re determined enough you can make anything happen. I think there is a great quote that summarises this school of thought from Tom Hanks in the movie Apollo 13 “it’s not a miracle that man walked on the moon, we just decided to go”.

Is this something you would recommend to other students at the university?

Yes 110%, everyone needs to get outside their comfort zone.

Tell me about how VEO started, how did the idea come about?

Well when I was studying in the US I heard of a company call TOM’s shoes and how they were championing the one for one business model. one for one means every time someone purchases a product a similar product is donated to people in need. I though wow that is really cool! TOM’s were successfully proving that you can utilize the purchasing power of consumers to deliver social change! Then I though how could I make a dent in the Universes through social enterprise.

What is VEO? Tell me more about it?

VEO was a social enterprise sunglasses brand. Every time someone purchases a set of VEO sunglasses, VEO donates a pair of Adjustable Eyewear to a person in need. As I am sure few people will know what Adjustable Eyewear, let me just take a moment to explain the incredible/bazaar/very fun invention. Adjustable Eyewear were created by Professor Josh Silver as a way of distributing prescription eyewear to people in some of the most remote parts of the world, where optometrists do not exist. These somewhat Harry Potter-ish glasses have syringes on the side, and with a few simple twists the recipient then has working prescription eyewear. Once they have found their prescription the person then simply cuts off the syringes and they have normal working prescription glasses.

What kind of challenges did you face when starting the company and how did you deal with it?

We had loads of challenges such as cashflow, balancing uni workloads, writing business plans etc…you just find a way to get it done because you believe in what you are doing.

Talking about balancing your university work with business? How were you able to balance your time on both of them?

I guess I was lucky because I studies Business Management at University; so a lot of my work for say accounting or marketing I used VEO as the case study. I thought of it as killing two birds with one stone.

What would you say was some of the key things you learnt from that experience?

Businesses consist of three parts those are 50% people, 25% idea and 25% business plan if you don’t get the balance right you’re in trouble.

Tell us about NEF, why did you decide this was the next step for you, what was the process?

It sounded like a cool program, so I thought what the heck. It was one written application a few 100 words on your favourite entrepreneur. Then two phone interviews. After that there was an assessment day. In groups of 5-6 you had an hour to come up with a business and then pitch it sort of like dragons den. Then if you get through the assessment day you are interviewed by successful entrepreneurs (these are potentially the guys that you will shadow) to see if there is a personality match. It’s along process however it’s worth it in the end.

What company are you currently working with and how’s the experience been so far for you?

I am currently working for Talk Talk PLC(TALK) the UK’s third largest Telco provider with 5Million customers and £1.7 Billion in Revenue in 2010. It has been like drinking from a fire hose! There has just been so much to take in.

What are some of the key things that you’ve learnt so far from working at Talk Talk?

Look for disruption points that are occurring around you (The PESTLE framework is useful for this) and then consider how to take advantage of them.

If you can’t add value you can’t add margin!

Working capital is a very important thing to get your head around.

Why did you choose Talk Talk?

Maybe a better question is why TT chose me… only Lord knows why they took a punt on me! Haha! I got a great vibe from the CEO Dido Harding and the Founder Neil McArthur. I also like that TT is a challenger brand that it’s never scared to stick two fingers up to established players.

Is this something that you would recommend to other aspiring entrepreneurs? What’s the value in it?

NEF? Yes NEF is a great way to learn from the best! Also everyone on the program are ballers. NEF is loads of fun it’s sort of like a cool entrepreneurial fraternity.

What would you say has been some of your most memorable moment so far?

Meeting Richard Branson was really cool or when we had an innovation work shop from McLaren F1. I never met an organization (McLaren F1) with such a clear focus “we are here to win” plain and simple. I LOVED IT!

What advices would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs looking to start their own business?

Here’s the thing that makes life so interesting, the theory of evolution claims that only the strong will survive, may be so. However the theory of competition states that even the strong can get their arse ‘s kicked! All successful entrepreneurs will tell you that the odds are stacked against you however they will also tell you that entrepreneurship is not a maths test! Entrepreneur is a different type of test where passion has a funny way of trumping logic. “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” Mark Twain

What can we be expecting from you in the future?

I will hopefully have some fun and make some money.

Fresh off finishing his PHD in Mathematic Finance at The University of Manchester, i recently caught up Edwin-Broni Mensah, founder of GiveMeTap to talk about his startup and also his journey so far.

GiveMeTap allows owners of GiveMeTap brand bottles to get free tap water refills from a selected number of cafes and restaurants on the go, allowing owners of the bottles to save money on bottled water and also reduce waste of plastic bottles in the environment.

70% of their profits are used to fund water projects across the world.

Here is the full interview.

How did you get into business – is this your first business?

I first got into business back in 2006 when my flat mate, Alex, asked me to join his new business, Origin Signed. That was my first taste of the entrepreneurial bug and that made me really want to become an entrepreneur. The business was to produce laptop skins and covers that would protect it from scratches and also give it a fresh look.

I was quite taken aback because he took me to a really fancy dinner. I realised that this is how the other side live, the entrepreneurs, because I was quite committed to going into a life of investment banking because I like that environment, but having seen what I saw at the award ceremony, I knew that this could be quite interesting.

Explain to people that still have difficulties understanding what GiveMeTap does as if you were explaining to my grandmother.

GiveMeTap is a scheme where you can buy a GiveMeTap bottle from our website, you can take it to participating cafes and restaurants and they will then re-fill your bottle with tap water. We’re trying to make water easily accessible to everyone around the world by using 70% of our profits to fund water projects across the world. We’re starting in Africa, where our first water project has now been completed.

How has it been going so far? How many bottles have you sold?

The response has been amazing. We’ve had a really successful start in Manchester, which is where I first launched the scheme during my PhD. There we had about 50 different establishments. We’re now operating in London, which we’re trying to expand quickly in time for the 2012 Olympic games. Up to date, we’ve sold around 800 bottles.

Why did you decide to start GiveMeTap? What is the story and inspiration behind it?

I was soon to be turning 25 and I felt that I needed to get into the best physical shape of my life as after 25 it would be more difficult. So I started a program called P90X, which pushed me to drink about 4-5 litres of water a day. When I was out and about I was often caught out and had to purchase bottled water. I didn’t understand why restaurants and cafes wouldn’t just allow me access to their water.

So I tried to go to a few places where there was often a cultural barrier of being refused water and was given weird looks at the fact that I was even asking for water. So this was something that I wanted to remove given that we have some of the best water here in the world and yet there are people who don’t have that same advantage. Both of my parents are from Ghana and they’ve told me about people in Ghana who don’t have water. This is why we give 70% of our profits to funding water projects around the world.

How did you fund your business?

During University I was a maths tutor, so I saved a lot of that money to then invest in the initial stock. I’ve also been fortunate enough to get quite a lot of support and backing from different organisations. The first was the social foundation for entrepreneurs called UnLtd. They were amazing in the support they gave me and they still give me support today.

They gave me initial seed funding in February 2010 and then development manager, which allowed me to shape the business. Off the back of that I got an award with virgin media. I went on to win the Shell Live wire award and The University of Manchester’s venture further business plan competition where I was a runner up. Then in September I won another UnLtd award which was backed by the Arthur Guinness Fund..

How did you manage to convince so many restaurants and cafes to come onboard with the GiveMeTap project?

I was very specific with who I approached first. I approached people with the same view I had. I cared a lot about sustainability and helping people get access to water. The people who I went to felt the same way and wanted to get involved for those reasons. There are a few companies who have also got involved as help them attract more customers into their establishments, which can potentially increase revenue.

What you’re doing with GiveMeTap is amazing. I know 70% of all your profits go towards funding independent water projects. What projects are you currently working on?

Last year we finished a project in November where we worked in Nama Bay, Namibia. We installed a water bore hole to serve about 1200 people. This year, we’re looking to go to Botswana where we are going to drill a borehole there to supply fresh clean water to a local comunity. We’ll be partnering with Redbush Tea company who we partnered with on the last project. We do have large ambitions to help a million people by 2015.

What has been the hardest part of you starting your business?

When I started my business, I was doing my PhD, so the most challenging thing for me has been making sure I finished my PhD. I loved my business and the challenges it presented so I threw myself into that. The most difficult thing was reminding myself that I still had my PhD to finish.

What would you say to someone that is looking to start up a business? Especially a charitable business like yours benefiting the environment. What advice would you give them?

You’ve got to try and make meaning especially if you’re going to do something social. So make it personal and try and make meaning in what you do. Really understand why you’re doing what you do. That’s crucial when you’re giving away such a large amount of your profits, because it gets challenging and if you don’t know why you actually exist it’s difficult to see why you should carry on.

I really have a sense of understanding about why GiveMeTap exists: to make water easily accessible to everyone, and I keep that message in my mind at all times. The decisions that we make are around that. We’re trying to make meaning rather than just trying to make money.

What have been some of the key lessons you have learnt so far?

Planning is important. You can have a great idea but the way it’s executed is much more important. So really understanding how to be effective with strategic planning and how to execute a plan is one of the key things I’m starting to learn.

Also, how working with other people is really important. I started GiveMeTap alone and I’m currently the only full time employee but there are so many people that have helped me out in different areas, like pr, journalism, bottle manufacturing, logistics, even strategic planning, branding and legal services.

As you said earlier you were formally pursuing a career as an investment banker after your PHD. Are you now looking to settle down with GiveMeTap full time?

Yes, definitely. Banking is an amazing area and I still really like the company that I was previously working at. I had an absolutely phenomenal time. But the love and passion I have every morning when I wake up to go and work for GiveMeTap is where I am at the moment. I love doing what I do. I love the work that I do and I just want to do that for as long as I can.

What has been the most memorable moment on your journey so far?

It has to be when I was in Namibia. Being there was a life changing experience, which really reaffirmed why I wake up every day to push and expand GiveMeTap around the world. I saw firsthand how it had a direct impact, how water changes absolutely everything. The bore hole meant that children didn’t have to walk 15km every day which meant they could go to school and get educated.

Women didn’t have to do that same thing and they could look after their family, get educated, or start a career/business. After installing the water tanks, we then used the water to irrigate the land so that vegetation could grow. Then we gave them a community centre to give them a sense of empowerment so they can manage the resource.

Seeing the resourcefulness and joy that they had when they don’t have much material things was phenomenal. This has effected the way I live and run GiveMeTap and it really reminded me that happiness isn’t found in things, it’s found in living in the moment and that’s something they do really well.

What would we at YHP be expecting from you next?

Expect a lot. We’ve got massive plans and ambitions for London and for the rest of the UK. We want to be national by next year. We’re also looking to expand heavily into London in time for the Olympic games. We’ve got an iPhone application (http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/givemetap/id424838506?mt=8 ) out now where you can find GiveMeTap places when you’re on the go, so if you’ve got an iPhone you can easily tap in and say where you are and it will pinpoint where the nearest taps are for you.

We are going to be releasing one for Android phones too. We’ve got a lot up our sleeves so stay tuned.

Do you think that attending University has been beneficial in getting you to where you are or do you think it doesn’t matter. What value has it added to you starting up a business.

I’d been at University for seven years, so my opinion is bias. I think University is crucial. The amount of resilience you get and having done my PhD, I don’t think many things can phase me now. My viva was six hours, which prepared me mentally for any interview that I am going to have in the future. University is a great time to really explore and discover yourself. So I would recommend it to everyone.

For more info:

http://www.givemetap.co.uk
http://www.facebook.com/givemetap
http://itunes.apple.com/sn/app/givemetap/id424838506?mt=8
http://twitter.com/givemetap

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Noam Kostucki, Noam is a social entrepreneur and recently a speaker at TED, Noam has given training, coaching and consulting at Yale University, HP, Tata, UnLtd and the British Heart Foundation. He is the founder of Seeducation (www.seeducation.org) and SeedPro.

In the UK alone, the social enterprise market grew from $24 billion (2007) to $97 billion (2010), and some people are still wondering whether “making money from doing good” is realistic.

I believe that everyone can make a healthy living from doing good. In my TED talk, I explored the question of “when is doing good the best way to make money“?

Now I want to look at what kind of social enterprise model can work for you.

If you are part of the 75% of the people who start by telling saying “but… you don’t understand: what I do is different. In my business we can’t do [...]“, don’t worry: just write down all the problems with doing what you would want to do and find a solution for each barrier, one by one, rather than all together.

When starting with social entrepreneurship, people wonder what they can do and how it applies to their industry or specific business. I don’t have a set answer, and no good consultant ought to. But we’ve got 2 other things in our sleeves:

1) a set of questions to ask you… most people I meet don’t actually know much about their market and own line of business

2) a set of models you can get inspired by… most people find the answer themselves once they’ve seen how someone else has made it work

This is why I have identified for you 6 of the most common big models. Take a look at how different organisations understand the idea of “making money from doing good” and take the best from each.

1. Buy 1, get 1 free for someone else: like the Jojo Project or Tom’s shoes, for every item you buy, someone else gets the same for free

2. Profit go to do inspiring good: OneWater that sells commercial water in supermarket invests most of its profit to build roundabouts for children to spin in Africa. As they turn the roundabout, they pump water to a water tower for the village and the surrounding ones. They also sell advertising space at the top of water towers to generate more revenue.

3. Intrinsic good: FEED Project is a company that sells bags and clothes that do good. Each items you buy is intrinsically good because they are made of eco-friendly material, and as an added value, each item also helps feed people in the developing world. So as they do more good, they make more money, the more money they make, the more good they do!

4. Invest in your future market: Seeducation is the “charity” that gives free education to individuals on how to make a living from doing good. SeedPro is the “company” that get paid by organisations for training, coaching and consulting on how to make money from doing good. These charitable activities support people in creating social enterprises. The more people Seeducation helps, the more social enterprises there are… and therefore the biggest the market is for SeedPro.

5. Improve the chain: Innocent drinks sells high price top of the range juice. They charge you for quality product, but also for the quality of the service they provide you: the go back all along the chain of production and makes sure every aspect is ethical and sustainable. They pay fair price and help their providers improve their sustainability and profitability.

6. Uncontested experts: For example, Age UK, the charity to help the elderly really runs 4 businesses that generate 104 million pounds from trading in 2010 or the Directory of Social Change that makes year on year about 95% of the money it needs from selling training, books, conferences and online tools.

If you want to learn more about how you charity can start making money from doing good, check the TED talk or tell you what you want to know about through comments, questions and ideas!

What are we doing to respect the planet, its biodiversity and the resources in it? I recently spoke with jane burston who runs a social enterprise that provides a more ethical and effective way for companies and individuals to offset their unavoidable emissions.

Jane who spent a few years working in strategy consulting, before becoming a freelance consultant, helping social enterprises and not-for-profits with business planning and market testing.
Before starting her company, she also took a sabbatical year to work in Africa, managing a sustainable technology charity in Zambia.

Check out the full interview, hope you enjoy it and reminds you to keep green!

Hi Jane, welcome to YHP, how are you doing today?

Before we dive into the interview, can you do a brief introduction about yourself and your background so that the YHP readers can get to know you better?

I’m a co-Founder and Director of Carbon Retirement, a social enterprise that provides a more ethical and effective way for companies and individuals to offset their unavoidable emissions.

I spent a few years working in strategy consulting, before becoming a freelance consultant, helping social enterprises and not-for-profits with business planning and market testing.

What does ‘green’ mean to you?

I prefer the word ‘sustainable’ – and what I’d mean by that is living, or doing business, in a way that respects the planet, its biodiversity and resources. We don’t own nature and natural resources – but we do have a responsibility to preserve them for future generations.

So explain to us exactly what carbon retirement does?

Carbon Retirement is transforming carbon offsetting into something that genuinely makes a difference. We give people power to reduce emissions in a simple, transparent, effective way – and in doing so we help them to take responsibility for their unavoidable emissions.

We force industrial companies to pollute less buy buying the permits they need and permanently removing them from the system. So rather than buying permits and continuing to pollute, these companies have to reduce their emissions.

We’ve won quite a few awards for our approach and have been called “the world’s first truly ethical carbon offsetting company”, which is nice! Our clients range from small NGOs to FTSE100 companies, as well as individuals who offset flights and home energy via our website. Recently the Committee on Climate Change offset with us, which is great as they are body of the top UK economists and climate change scientists, so having them as a client is a great way to raise awareness of our approach at the highest levels.

We also produce research into the offsetting and emissions trading markets to make them more transparent and effective. Our last piece of research, which was published by the BBC, found that only 28p in every £1 spent on offsetting projects get to the project the money was intended to fund!

What role do you do play in the company?

I’m a Director, so I set the company strategy, and decide what research we should do and which campaigns would be most effective. I act as a primary contact for a lot of our clients and I also help to raise awareness of what Carbon Retirement does, for example by speaking at conferences.

What made you decide to start a company like this, what is the inspiration behind it?

The idea came out of a conversation with a former colleague about how much money was being spent on carbon offsetting, even though most of the evidence from NGOs and academics was that it wasn’t working very well in reducing emissions or supporting sustainable development in developing countries. We were sure there must be a better way to focus all that goodwill – and cash – so that it would make a bigger difference, and it turned out there was!

How did you raise finance to start the business?

We raised a small amount of money from friends, and then just went for it! Since then we’ve had a grant from Unltd, a charity that funds social enterprises, a grant from The Funding Network, a charity that matches philanthropists with small organisations doing good work, and more recently we have raised finance from business angels to help up scale up.

what would you say was the most difficult thing you encountered whilst starting your business?

The biggest challenge was communicating how the service works more widely than environmental organisations. Many of our initial customers already knew about carbon markets and carbon offsetting, and therefore understood why Carbon Retirement is a robust approach. To take the service to a wider audience, we needed simple and fun communications, so we developed an animation which explains how we work. It’s on our website if you want to have a look (www.carbonretirement.com)

How does your company advice european industrials to pollute less?

Rather than advising them – we force them! We buy up the ‘pollution permits’ they need so that they can’t be used. As there are a fixed number of permits, it means the industrial companies need to reduce their emissions instead of buying the permits and carrying on polluting. Many industrial companies have a lot of projects they could implement or processes they could adapt to reduce emissions. What we do makes them start doing this sooner rather than later!

Can small businesses compete with large corporations when it comes to Green products?

Definitely. Small businesses have the ability to adapt quickly to a changing landscape for doing business – and historically new markets have always been opened up by small businesses.

Going back a bit, where you always involved in entrepreneurship as a child or is it something you picked along the way?

Not as a child, but while I was in strategy consulting, I took a sabbatical year to work in Africa, managing a sustainable technology charity in Zambia. I think that was what got me well and truly bitten by the enterprise bug; since then I knew for sure I wanted to set up my own business.

Are you getting any support from any Green organizations or from the legislation?

Not directly. There is an increasing amount of green regulation and schemes to encourage businesses to reduce their emissions, so that is good news for us as it helps our clients, who are usually CSR Managers in large organisations, to get profile and budget for their projects, as it’s something Boards and CEOs are starting to pay attention to.

I want to move into your experience as an entrepreneur and I’m sure you have tons to share. What do you think is the most important lesson that you learned as an entrepreneur?

Bring yourself to your work. It’s hard to bring your values to bear on everything that you do – it takes extra energy and time, which is what people always wish they had more of – but it’s worth it. It gives you the satisfaction that you are not only forging a path in your chosen sector but that you’re doing it in a way you’ll always be proud of.

What did you want to be when you were younger? Is there a connection to what you are doing now?

I think I wanted to be a professional swimmer – I remember always wanting to swim the channel. So no connection there! Apart from possibly a love of being in nature. I’ve always been concerned about the environment – I was the ‘Green Officer’ at University and spent a lot of time making life-size cardboard cut-outs of The Wombles to encourage people to recycle!

I believe that most green businesses are always looking for opportunities to become more sustainable, whether it is by introducing more green features into the business or by taking up initiatives such as tree planting. Can you share with us some of your plans to make Carbon retirement a more sustainable company?

We build environmental and social practices into the way we work – we cycle to meetings wherever possible and otherwise use public transport, we very rarely print anything, we source office equipment carefully to ensure that we are buying the most environmentally friendly products available, from the most ethical retailers, lots of small things that add up!

Happily for us, these practices line neatly up with our strategy of keeping overheads low, and enable us to build our brand by practicing what we preach.

What advices do you have for entrepreneurs who are planning to start an environmental-friendly business?

Take time to consult with your potential clients as you develop your idea – people in this sector are very generous with their time and you’ll end up with not only a better offering but you’ll have made some allies along the way.

Thanks for your time jane

Article By Honey Carew

Entrepreneurs are not just about making money with their strange and unique ideas, some of them aims to help youths – help themselves. Mr Campbell is the founder and the director of Enfuse Youth. This is a non – profit yet teachable industry for the youngsters in London.

Enfuse Youth began in January 2008, along with an aim to be global not only for the sake of being recognised however its to solemnly help the youngster in the generation to come.

He is also an ambassador for the Damilola Taylor Trust , this is with a strong desire to cease young knife crime and to create a legacy for positive change.

Mr Campbell obtained a degree in Economics from Kingston University. His fire for entrepreneurship increased to a level that became noticed by OYIP, five minute of fame wasn’t his only gain but a chance to represent UK in Syndeny was left in his hands.

Some entrepreneurs are shy; Mr Campbell is the complete opposite. An excellent public spokesman as he has been a television presenter on many occasion interviewing celebrities such as Alexander Burke, JLS, Sir Micheal Caine and many more.

He is currently a public speaker, selected by Channel 4 as a Board Member within The Education Advisory Board. In this area he touches on entrepreneurship skills, international development and the social enterprise.
From September 2009, he became a partner in ConverXion which is an internet industry, which aims to provide clarity within the online marketing dominion to its clients.

Andre Campbell is a Graduate with a genuine passion for the younger generation in all ways whether its through his volunteering acts or his entrepreneurial plan, he aims to create a better place by helping others help themselves.

Don’t forget to check out our sponsor: QuickLingo
Quick Lingo is a professional translation and interpretation service provider to the corporate community and public sector.

I would like to thank Emmanuel Anthony of treehouse In for making this feature possible

Naomi Jane is an award winning entrepreneur, model and ex- European title Beauty Queen.

Naomi runs The 4WD Foundation, an award winning social enterprise that specialises in youth engagement strategy and youth-led research. The 4WD Foundation helps London’s young people access life-changing information, opportunities and resources through various youth-led multi-media platforms.4WD projects aim to enable London’s young people to make informed positive life decisions, reach more of their potential, and become proactive assets to their community.

Naomi is a public speaker and specialist youth trainer and has delivered and facilitated various training programmes, developmental workshops and motivational speeches for The Safety Box, The Helena Kennedy Foundation, The Peace Alliance, The World Entrepreneur Summit, Royal Holloway, University of London, The Youth of Today, 2morro, WestFocus and Young Enterprise London.

Naomi is also a freelance sales, marketing and online media consultant. She is also a partner in FrSH Entertainment, an independent urban music collective.

Naomi is a member of the Channel 4 Educational Advisory Board and is also the Youth Trustee for the Donald Chesworth Educational Trust, providing disadvantaged young people with grants enabling them to continue their education and for OSW (Off the Streets and into Work) a charity supporting homeless people in their journey to enter sustainable living.

Naomi has just secured her first ever radio show; Naomi will be producing and presenting ‘The Forward Show’ with Kaylie Boyce. It will be aired on Reach 87.7FM every Tuesday in May 2010, 8.30-9.30pm and will feature special guests and conscious UK music in order to discuss and address issues that affect young Londoners.

What do you do in your spare time?

I am very passionate about healthy living, so I spend a large amount of time in the gym training with my good friend and ex-professional athlete Jonathan Barbour. I also enjoy swimming, yoga, pilates and running in the park.

I love traveling and leave the UK to get some alternate culture (and sun!) as often as I can. This Summer I am off to the South of France, Antigua and New York.

I also love dancing to good music, luckily in London there are great music and night scenes that enable me to indulge myself in a night of dancing my feet off / singing along to a great artist whenever I have time. In the coming months I am seeing Alicia Keys, Raheem DeVaughn and Erykah Badu!

What are your plans for the future?

The 4WD Foundation has currently secured funding to pilot a research and online-based youth engagement project. These pilots will be taking place in the London Borough of Croydon and their outcomes will determine the future direction and expansion of The 4WD Foundation. In order to make a great success of the next step in the development of the 4WD Foundation, we are currently recruiting a senior management team.

To Get in touch/involved with The 4WD Foundation:
“4WDFoundation” Twitter | WordPress |
The 4WD Foundation’ on Facebook

Tom(In the Middle)

Tom Latchford is CEO of Raising IT, which is creating a technology platform to manage personalisation. Raising IT builds websites and online tools for charities to power marketing, fundraising and member management (service users, supporters and staff).

Raising IT is working with organisations such as UNICEF, Dyslexia Action and Children with Leukaemia to decrease costs, raise funds and increase efficiency.

Tom was an E-Media Consultant at charity consultancy Action Planning a position he took after graduatiing from oxford, and since starting Raising IT has won a number of awards for its success including WorldSkills Entrepreneur of the Year 2009.

Chris Hughes, Facebook’s co-founder has launched a new enterprise called Jumo, (jumo.com) which soft launches today.

Jumo–a Yoruba word meaning “together in concert”–is a non-profit that aims to help people find ways to help the world. “We’ll be matching people based on their skills and interests with organizations around the world that need their input,”

Hughes tells Fast Company. “It’s a discovery process that first matches then helps people build relationships then lets people share their resources.”

Chris who was the main man behind the MyBarackObama community organization site.

There is a full report on this at the fastcompany website.