Their journeys often involve overcoming challenges, taking risks, and innovating within competitive industries, which gives them unique insights into what drives business success. Entrepreneurs bring practical insights into running a business, from scaling operations to managing finances and leading teams. Their experiences of both failure and success offer valuable lessons that resonate with audiences. Beyond practical advice, they inspire with their resilience, creativity, and problem-solving skills, emphasising the importance of persistence, adaptability, and vision. As keynote speakers, entrepreneurs provide a clear understanding of the strategies and mindset needed for success, motivating attendees to pursue new ideas, overcome challenges, and innovate in their own ventures. Some of our top entrepreneurs are known for popular TV shows like Dragon’s Den and The Apprentice, lending them credibility and adding expert knowledge that resonates with audiences. Their personal stories of triumph and adversity provide valuable lessons for navigating the competitive business world, making them an excellent choice for business-oriented events.
With access to a wide range of accomplished entrepreneurs, including those with notable media presence, Great Business Speakers can match you with a speaker who aligns with your event’s objectives and audience. Whether hosting a corporate seminar, conference, or virtual event, we ensure you have the right expert to elevate your event and deliver key insights for business growth and success.
Discover our Entrepreneurs below, or contact the team at Great Business Speakers to enquire or book. +44 1753 439 289
Trewin Restorick is a sustainability speaker who’s been at the forefront of sustainable change since 2014 with the launch of the charity Hubbub UK, which he founded and led as CEO from its conception until 2022.
The London-based food waste prevention charity aims to change how environmental messages are delivered so businesses and consumers can work together as a force for environmental change.
Trewin has since started a new environmental venture called Sizzle, encouraging people to live greener, more natural lifestyles.
Professor Trevor Williams is an author, academic and consultant, analysing and providing insight into how politics, demographics and trade shape economies and economic trends. For 30 years he worked as an economist in the City, including ten years as Chief Economist at Lloyds Bank.
From patterns in inflation and earnings to trade deals and stock markets, Trevor analyses what is going on within the economy and the significance for organisations and individuals.
Trevor Williams provides analysis of the risks businesses and governments face and how the economy will react, as well as looking at the political economics of climate change and possible energy shortages, alongside the risks and costs to businesses and consumers.
Focussing on ‘big data’, Trevor has written and spoken extensively on how data can be used to analyse trends in macro-economic individual company performance.
Tom Savigar is an expert in foresight, strategy, and transformation, business visions and models, change, and development.
For over two decades, he had been forecasting and making the future happen with The Future Laboratory for the world’s biggest and best known brands.
With his new company Avansere, Tom now focusses his skills and network on building next-generation enterprises.
“The leader of the new school of advertising”.
Timothy Armoo – known as Timo to his friends – is the founding CEO of groundbreaking influencer marketing agency Fanbytes. Since selling it on in 2022, he has become the company’s Vice President Influencer.
Named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for his achievements in media and marketing, Timo has been preaching the gospel of Gen Z marketing, featuring on Adweek, the BBC and Business Insider and winning awards such as the Huffington Post Entrepreneur of the Year.
As a globally popular speaker, he is frequently booked to cover a variety of topics including millennial marketing and social media. He has spoken on the biggest stages across the UK, Europe, Beijing and the USA, as well as working on campaigns for international singers Cardi B and Drake.
Tim Bradshaw is a former British Army Intelligence Officer and a graduate of the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. His work as a Covert Human Intelligence Officer and Target Acquisition Patrol Soldier saw him recruit and run foreign agents worldwide.
Tim founded, and is a director of, Sandstone Communications, and international leadership and team building consultancy. He is Chief Executive Officer of the Sandstone Foundation delivering resilience workshops to schools and young people. His experience and understanding of creating influence, building resilience, and leadership forms the basis of the work he carries out with clients and audiences worldwide.
He explores why leaders and teams are so often misguided by prioritising perception over reality. Too often processes override outcomes and decisions are left to one or two individuals. A fear of failure, and its repercussions means people avoid being associated with those decisions instead of being a part of them.
Combining the inspirational with the practical, Tim explores the common mistakes and important lessons in creating influence and resilience within teams and clients. It starts with intelligence, not information.
Thomas Robson-Kanu – known as Hal – is a former Premier League and international footballer, entrepreneur and media pundit.
Enjoying a professional playing career that spanned over 2 decades, Hal made over 300 league appearances and received 46 caps for Wales.
Hal formed part of the team that helped Wales reach the semi-finals of the 2016 European Championships, having not qualified for 57 years. In the Quarter Final match against Belgium, Hal scored a sensational goal that went on to be awarded Goal of the Tournament.
In league football, Hal played an integral part in Reading’s 2011–12 Championship-winning campaign, and also was a regular in the Premier League with both Reading and West Bromwich Albion.
Tessa Clarke is the Co-Founder and CEO of Olio, a free app that tackles the problem of food waste and, in turn, climate change.
The app aims to connect neighbours and communities so that surplus food can be given away rather than thrown away. Since its conception in 2015, Olio has grown to over 7 million global users and has won Tessa many accolades.
She is a knowledgeable, engaging, fun, personable, and passionate speaker, talking on various subjects surrounding innovation, entrepreneurship, and sustainability.
Warren Knight is an award-winning keynote speaker, a digital disruptor, a top 100 Global Influencer, and top 100 Tech Influencer. He is internationally recognised as a speaker, trainer, and coach on Digital Leadership and Digital Transformation.
With 15 years digital experience, Warren Knight is an award-winning technology entrepreneur, certified Agile leader, and author of Think #Digital First (2015). He has dedicated his career to helping leaders understand how technology can drive a business’ success, how it allows them to build a more efficient and sustainable organisation and digital footprint, and how to ensure a brand is fit for the future.
His personal approach to transforming how we view disruptive technology is to empower individuals with positive choices to reach business objectives and as a result builds stronger companies and more engaged communities.
His vision is that by 2035, he will have helped 1,000,000 leaders globally to build a workplace based on culture, community, and technology for generation Alpha.
Will Greenwood is a former England rugby player and the second highest try scorer in English rugby history. He is widely regarded as one of England’s greatest ever rugby players, as well as one of the sport’s most engaging, intelligent and entertaining characters.
Will Greenwood started his working career on London’s City trading floor before debuting for Harlequins in 1994 and then progressing to Leicester in 1996.
He made his England debut in 1997 and went on to become an integral part of the England team, a position he cemented in the Six Nations and World Cup in 2003, finishing the World Cup tournament as joint top try scorer with five.
Throughout his 11 years playing professional rugby, Will was a dedicated professional combining a fantastic work ethic with a desire to continuously learn and improve his game. Despite injury setbacks and occasional moments of self-doubt and personal tragedy his focus, determination and perseverance led him to the top of the national and international game.
Will Moxham and Planthood co-founder Hilary Kennedy fell in love with plant-based food in 2018 while living in Canada.
Whilst the vegan movement of the time was increasing on the West Coast, when they returned to the UK, they realised the vegan options just didn’t compete.
Keen to offer healthy, sustainable, and easy-to-cook vegan options, Will and Hil set up Planthood to create fast and restaurant-worthy dishes.
William Adoasi is the founder of the Vitae Group (Vitae London, Vitae Digital, Broken Chain Co and Vitae Photography), who started his first business – Starlight Academy – at age 19.
His stand-out venture is Vitae London, a watch brand that directly transforms the lives of children who have either been orphaned or live in poverty. Each purchase from the range of watches supplies a child in Africa with two sets of school uniform, a bag and footwear.
William has been named on the prestigious Future of Ghana Top 30, featured in Forbes’ 25 Leading Black British Business People to Follow and was selected as a Virgin ambassador for entrepreneurship within the UK. He has been nominated for the 2017 GUBA Awards for Business Start Up of the Year and the 2017 Best Fashion Designer at the Black British Entertainment Awards.
Winnie Awa is a creative visionary and storyteller based in London. Her multi-disciplinary practice sits at the intersection of beauty, technology, community-led design, and cultural intelligence, crafting products and narratives that feel as human as they are technologically advanced.
She has been recognised by the likes of the BBC, Sunday Times Style, Vogue, Harpers Bazaar and Refinery 29. It comes as no surprise that Winnie is highly sought-after as a corporate speaker, covering topics including Women in Technology, Entrepreneurship, Diversity, and Inclusive haircare.
Susannah Schofield is the founder and CEO of Dice Matrix Consulting, the group who owns Sports DMM and Pitch DMM. She also owns the magazine title ‘Key Women in Business’ (KWIB.co.uk) and is the Editor-in-Chief with a readership of 120,000.
Dice Matrix Consulting is a Research and Insight business, looking at either specific clients or sector and industry insights to help business develop and understand what customers and employees need.
Measuring the perception gap and identifying strengths and opportunities whilst monitoring efficiency savings. This has been running successfully since she created the business model in 2013 as part of her published book, Mind the Gap – creating a successful business strategy.
The Group moved quickly into the Sports world to help Professional clubs and Sports groups to understand how to drive Marginal Gain to reach excellence. The Group also owns the PitchDMM App which is an App to give football fans a voice and be heard.
Stefaan van Hooydonk is the founder of the Global Curiosity Institute, a service that helps individuals and organisations foster a curiosity mindset. He consults businesses and leadership teams worldwide – including in Saudi Arabia, India and China – to help improve their curiosity with the aim of helping their development.
His impressive education record – a Masters in Economics and Chinese and Postgraduates in Marxist Economics, Cross-Cultural Management and an MBA in Business – means his knowledge is often in demand at large-scale industry events.
Sophie Robinson is one of the industry’s top interior stylists and designers, regularly employed by Britain’s best-selling magazines to produce inspirational yet achievable room designs.
With over 25 years of experience, the undisputed queen of colour is regarded as an expert with a keen eye for the latest looks and high-street trends.
Marnie Swindells is a boxer, entrepreneur, and winner of the BBC reality show The Apprentice (2023).
Since winning, she has undergone a life-changing year after becoming business partners with Lord Alan Sugar and is the proud owner of The Bronx Boxing Gym. She has appeared on various media channels, and in advertisement campaigns for brands such as Colgate and and Sports Direct.
Now an inspiration to novices and professionals alike, Marnie is a popular keynote speaker on the topics of entrepreneurialism, female business leaders, sport, power, resilience, and how sport – boxing specifically – can bring you so much more than ‘just’ fitness; it can give you a place to belong.
Mark Maciver – otherwise known as SliderCuts – has been a barber and hair stylist since 2003. In that time, he has built up an impressive client list, including Stormzy and Tinie Tempah.
With a social media following of over 220,000 across platforms, Mark has built up an impressive platform where he documents his styling. His many years in the industry, plus his extensive knowledge of the business, make him a trusted figure in the community.
His skills have won him a Black British Business Award in 2018 and a nomination for an Evening Standard Business Award in 2019. He is often praised as one of the UK’s top black business owners.
Anting to use his expertise and success to help others, he has been involved in far-reaching campaigns such as Nike’s “Nothing Beats a Londoner” campaign and Facebook’s 2018/9 “Let’s Get to Work” campaign. He also provides training and workshops in the workplace.
Mark Beer is a solution orientated, innovative and client-centric lawyer with experience working in big law firms, in-house, in finance, in Government and in the judiciary.
His extensive, global and diverse experience allows him to find answers where others find problems, and has led Mark Beer to be twice named as one of the ‘Top 50 most influential Brits in the UAE’, as one of the 100 most influential people in Dubai and by Forbes Middle East as one of the top 50 most influential expats in the UAE.
Marga Hoek is that rare combination of a successful business leader who is also a visionary on sustainable business.
Her experience, knowledge and passion have seen her operating at the highest level, working with presidents and political ministers, and speaking at G20, G7, and Cop 23. She was also ranked by Thinkers 50 as one of the top 30 new management thinkers in the world.
Sophie Cornish MBE is a multi-award winning entrepreneur, best selling author and expert in fast-growth businesses in fashion, e-commerce and the media.
In 2006 she co-founded online marketplace notonthehighstreet.com. Now one of the UK’s leading digital brands (and acquired by US firm Great Hill Partners in 2021), notonthehighstreet.com supports thousands of creative small businesses and connects them with millions of customers. From this came Sophie’s two bestselling, co-authored books: Build A Business From Your Kitchen Table (2012) and Shape Up Your Business, (2014).
Sophie Cornish was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s 2013 Birthday Honours for services to small businesses and entrepreneurs.
Currently, Sophie’s most active role is as Chairman of Busby & Fox, a fashion retail brand that gives women the tools and confidence to identify, build and love their look. Its service-focused approach is in seven flourishing UK stores and its fast-growing digital presence.
Sir Kenneth Olisa has been at the top of blue-chip IT businesses on both sides of the Atlantic for more than 30 years, and can be found on the boards of both philanthropic and educational organisations.
Ken is the Founder and Chairman of merchant bank Restoration Partners, and architect wireless service company Inogesis, formerly known as the Virtual Technology Cluster group.
Ken’s wide knowledge and experience of enterprises small and large, technology and marketing, and his willingness to speak openly and honestly makes him a highly in-demand public speaker.
Mads Faurholt-Jorgensen is a serial entrepreneur and bestselling author.
He has started over 20 companies across technology, financial services, marketing, HR, food and education, with thousands of employees, and investors such as Goldman Sachs, Alibaba, Peter Thiel and the World Bank.
Simon Alexander Ong is a personal development entrepreneur, coach, and public speaker.
His work has seen him appear on television channels including Sky News and the BBC, and on BBC Radio London and LBC Radio. He has also featured in Forbes, The Guardian, and Women’s Health.
Simon is also a bestselling author; his debut book Energize was published in 2022 and received positive endorsements frrom the likes of authors Simon Sinek and Dr Marshall Goldsmith.
Everything that Simon does is built around inspiring people to see their world differently, and igniting their imagination of what is truly possible so that they can lead purposeful lives, careers, and businesses.
As a personal development coach and speaker, his clients are from all walks of life but they all share one trait: they all believe that the greatest investment you can make is in yourself. He has spoken at the Peter Jones Foundation, the LSE, and The World Business and Executive Coach Summit (WBECS), and even appeared in a nationwide campaign for Barclays.
Simon Jordan is a serial entrepreneur and made his fortunes in the mobile phone industry, building his company from scratch. He sold The Pocket Phone Shop in 2000 for £75 million, aged 32.
In the same year, he bought Crystal Palace FC, becoming the youngest-ever owner of a Football League club – the club his father played for and the team he had supported as a child.
Simon is also a restaurant owner and founder of Octane Magazine.
