Oli Barrett

Oli Barrett

Welcome. I’m Oli Barrett and I love connecting people and ideas. I’ve co-founded numerous organisations including Tenner, Volunteer It Yourself, The Rainmakers, Cospa and Clean and Cool. My first job was at Walt Disney World and from there I became a Butlin Redcoat before starting my first business at Leeds University. Today, I’m enjoying working on a range of new ventures and hosting all sorts of live events, podcasts and virtual gatherings. I have recently released an audio course, Build a Better Network – you can read more about it here.

Photo by Paul Clarke Photography

“Life is a search for people” Theodore Zeldin

What I Do:

Photo by Paul Clarke Photography

Presenter, Moderator, and Host;  Regular events including The Great British Entrepreneur Awards, The Times Growth Summits, Ambition Nation, The ScaleUp Institute, Global Leaders Innovation Summit. Please talk to me here about your plans and ideas.

“He is superb at what he does, a consummate professional and pleasure to work with. He also has a talent for turning the thorniest debates into lively, enjoyable and constructive conversations from which everyone learns a great deal. I cannot recommend him too highly.” IOD

Co-Founder; The Rainmakers (the innovation and incubation company), Cospa (the agency creating cross-sector partnerships between brands and causes), Volunteer It Yourself (VIY) which has helped thousands of young people to fix their own youth clubs, Clean and Cool helping cleantech companies to succeed. I love connecting potential co-founders and companies so please let’s connect if you think we should be talking.

Campaigns; TOTS (Turn on the Subtitles) promoting children’s literacy, Tenner – the UK’s largest schools enterprise challenge, StartUp Britain, launched by the British Prime Minister and funded by the private sector. If you would like to support TOTS or Tenner in any way, I’d love to hear from you.

Connector;  Smart connections save time and create value. I help develop ideas and businesses by advising on and making valuable introductions. I also run a focused workshop for companies and teams on “How to Build an Effective Network”. For more information, please get in touch.

” Every introduction Oli makes is thoughtful, purposeful and at times, life-changing.  And that is because he has that rare talent of genuinely listening to people and understanding what they really need or want from life.”

Advisory Board Member; Tech London Advocates, One Million Mentors and Troubadour Theatres, and Fellow of impact incubator and business builder Zinc.

“The most connected man in Britain” WIRED UK

I am fortunate to work with an extraordinary range of organisations which have recently included Credit Suisse, TikTok, London and Partners, Fujitsu, Business In the Community, OSTIA (the Online Safety Tech Industry Association), HM Treasury, The Queen’s Young Leaders, The ScaleUp Institute, Weatherbys Private Bank, finnCap, and The Times.

Please browse this site for my latest work, testimonials and blog posts as well as more general background information and contact details. Thank you for visiting.