Oli Barrett MBE

Director & Co-Founder, Turn On The Subtitles / Powered By Ethos / Cospa

Oli Barrett MBE is a co-founder of social innovation organisation Cospa, helping companies and causes to create and grow ventures which make money and make a difference. A good example of this was helping over 2,000 young people to fix their own youth clubs, with Wickes, the DIY chain.

He started Tenner (now run by Young Enterprise), the scheme which has challenged over 150,000 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 has led trade missions to the US, India and Brazil, helping British companies (in health, clean-tech and web) to explore business opportunities.

Oli’s entrepreneurial career started as a student and has included an events business in nine cities, an international language practice website (sold in 2008) and a sock subscription website which continues to ship internationally.

Oli Has Mentored…

Role Models

We nurture character in children because we believe ‘soft skills’ are as important as academic attainment and support them through their formative years.

 

  • Role Models
  • Domeg Edcuation Group
  • Gingersnap
  • ONLOAN
  • NoBox Lab
  • Bright Idea Education
  • Oak
  • Pendragon Project CIC

Oli was very friendly and down to earth.  He asked plenty of questions so that he fully understood the business, which also showed that he cared and was interested. He focused on the importance of building a community and networking with the right people, which was useful as it’s not something we do enough of.”

Hugo Shepherd, Role Models

Oli Has Mentored…

Domeg Edcuation Group

We are experts and lead providers of Financial Capability courses through our ‘Domeg Money Matters TM’ programmes.

 

  • Role Models
  • Domeg Edcuation Group
  • Gingersnap
  • ONLOAN
  • NoBox Lab
  • Bright Idea Education
  • Oak
  • Pendragon Project CIC

Very informative and supportive. Oli was very knowledgable and suited to our business. He was a great expert, very supportive and gave us some great ideas, insight and guidance. He was very open and easy to speak to, and very good at giving us advice on what to focus on and where we can network further.”

Debbie and Di Dominican, Dom Education Group

Oli Has Mentored…

Gingersnap

The perfect treat for digitally-savvy children: Pick a story-app – Personalize it – Then send it to the kids….

 

  • Role Models
  • Domeg Edcuation Group
  • Gingersnap
  • ONLOAN
  • NoBox Lab
  • Bright Idea Education
  • Oak
  • Pendragon Project CIC

A great meeting! In our 60 minute session we quickly got into the nitty-gritty of our business proposition. Oli was able to then take a step back and reflect on the strengths of the product and progress to date, offering some really useful tips and tools.”

Marc Goodchild, Gingersnap

Oli Has Mentored…

ONLOAN

We loan you clothes from the coolest contemporary designers on a slick monthly subscription.

  • Role Models
  • Domeg Edcuation Group
  • Gingersnap
  • ONLOAN
  • NoBox Lab
  • Bright Idea Education
  • Oak
  • Pendragon Project CIC

Oli was brilliant. In just 90 minutes he shared some really practical techniques for getting more out of my own network that were new to me, I can implement today, and I can see exactly how they will help my organisation achieve its goals. Thank you!!”

Tamsin Chislett, Onloan

Oli has mentored

NoBox Lab

NoBox Lab is a social enterprise that offers human-centred, innovative learning and experiential programs for children and young people.

  • Role Models
  • Domeg Edcuation Group
  • Gingersnap
  • ONLOAN
  • NoBox Lab
  • Bright Idea Education
  • Oak
  • Pendragon Project CIC

Oli was amazing and a very good listener! He really did challenge me indirectly throughout our session, by asking the right questions and making me think of possible solutions to my challenges.  

Sophia El Bahja, Operations Director, NoBox Lab

Oli has mentored

Bright Idea Education

Bright Idea Education have created a product called Cosmico, which is an adaptive, game-based, learning edtech app that deepens and accelerates a child’s development.

  • Role Models
  • Domeg Edcuation Group
  • Gingersnap
  • ONLOAN
  • NoBox Lab
  • Bright Idea Education
  • Oak
  • Pendragon Project CIC

Oli was really supportive and very skilful in giving guidance on how to grow and expand your network, as well as giving pointers on approaches that can be taken. I feel very inspired since talking to Oli and I’m really grateful for his time.  

Ibrahim Farook, Founder, Bright Idea Education

Oli has mentored

Oak

Oak provides an independent energy concierge service to businesses wanting to get control of their footprint and use the data generated to help them deliver a net zero strategy.

  • Role Models
  • Domeg Edcuation Group
  • Gingersnap
  • ONLOAN
  • NoBox Lab
  • Bright Idea Education
  • Oak
  • Pendragon Project CIC

Oli’s feedback was useful and impactful. The questions and entire conversation were very relevant, and always very respectful of our vision. His aim was not to tell me the impossible but to challenge me on how far you can really scale for impact. I feel the OAK Network clearly found a strong ally in Oli, and Expert Impact made it happen extremely quickly.

Gaetan Cuvillier, CEO, Oak

Oli has mentored

Pendragon Project CIC

We run unique team building adventures for groups that in turn fund our youth development adventure expeditions for young people aged 17-25 experiencing complex transitions to adulthood.

  • Role Models
  • Domeg Edcuation Group
  • Gingersnap
  • ONLOAN
  • NoBox Lab
  • Bright Idea Education
  • Oak
  • Pendragon Project CIC

My session with Oli was incredibly valuable. Oli helped me reframe my thinking on certain areas of our business, made some practical suggestions, and was genuinely interested in what we are trying to achieve as an organisation. I left the session feeling energised with some clear actions to take forward.

Laura Bryon, Director, Pendragon Project

Want to meet with Oli?