Olu Olanrewaju is a chartered surveyor with an MBA and part of the Directors Programme at Cranfield Business School. Olu has a wealth of experience in both the provision of affordable housing and commercial housing development and management in the United Kingdom and across the globe. During his career he has been Chief Executive of United HA based in Bristol, Managing Director of Midland Heart HA based in Birmingham, Executive Operations Director of East Thames HA, Managing Director of Genesis HA, and Executive Director at L&Q. These organisations range from those that have developed and managed around 1000 homes to nearly 100,000 homes in their portfolio. Olu is currently Chairman of Leadership 2025, a charity set up to increase the number of people of colour in leadership positions, Chairman of BLP a London based charity transforming young lives through entrepreneurship, and Altwood Housing Group, a private property group based in London. In recent past Olu has chaired several Housing companies including a G15 Housing Association. He is also a co-founder of a start-up affordable housing company providing climate smart affordable homes in Africa.

James Wall has a background in Commercial Banking with a particular focus on the Charity, Social Enterprise and Co-operative sectors. Currently James leads a team covering the South of England looking after a range of clients with their banking, lending and risk management needs. James has a good understanding of both organisational management, strategy & banking drawn from time spent in a variety of teams and a significant time spent looking at the business & financial plans of organisations across the size spectrum from the largest UK charities to much smaller local organisations. Living locally to BLP, James has been a trustee with since May 2018. James has an MSc in International Management & a BA in Business Economics from the University of Exeter.

William Sceats is a Management Consultant with comprehensive experience of transforming organisations from an IT and Operational perspective. With over 20 years’ experience accrued from a wide range of clients, industries and geographies. William brings this knowledge to support Business Launchpad. Specific areas of expertise include Strategy Definition & Effectiveness, Transformation & Cost Reduction, People Leadership & Development, Coaching & Change Management, Project & Programme Management.

David Gordon is a solicitor who is advises businesses on wide range of commercial legal issues. He was trained in house in a UK Retail Bank and since 1998 he has been based in London and developed his legal skills in both banking, commercial and property law – with stints at top city firms – gaining the ACIBS banking qualification during this time. He has helped companies from start up to raising finance of up to £50 million combining unique skills of finance and commercial legal advice. More recently he has acted for a wide range of owner managed business based both in the UK and abroad on company sales and purchases. David also gives training sessions on a variety of legal issues. He is dual qualified in both Scots and English Law. Specialist areas include property, banking/ financial, employment, contract, leisure, catering, IT and management consultancy. The firm provides a convenient ‘one stop shop’ for SME’s and owner managed businesses requiring professional caliber legal support services with a friendly, efficient and personal approach. The practice won various awards including Guardian “Green Awards” for his paperless office and Leading Commercial Property and Contracts Lawyer for his expertise. David was also the Chairman of the IOD’s Central London Branch from 2017-20.

Akta is an experienced investor, with more than 10 years of experience in the start-up/venture capital space. She founded a company called Enhabit, a company whose mission is to reduce carbon emissions arising out of the built environment. Akta has significant expertise in ESG and impact investing, as well as an increasing expertise in tech and AI. She is also an active investor investing personal funds and provides advisory services to a number of start-ups. She is a trustee of Business Launchpad, a charity supporting London’s youth to build entrepreneurial skills. Akta is a non-executive director at the Royal Free London Foundation Trust, chairing the finance and investment committee. She is also the sponsor for the group’s digital strategy and is Vice Chair of the Royal Free Charity.

Simon has over 40 years work experience. For the first 5 years he worked for large IT companies. He then founded The DMW group, a technology consultancy, which he grew to £14m turnover over 27 years.  He successfully exited in 2017 and now has a portfolio career. He is an NED of another consultancy, an adviser to the Institute of Advanced Studies at Durham University and a trustee of Van Mildert College JCR. He is also a qualified executive coach and founded Peakflow.Zone. The business aims to share leading research on flow and peak performance and help enable this state in individuals within business, sport, academia, the arts and public service. As a trustee he will use his experience as an entrepreneur and coach to help support BLP’s services and develop the young people that the charity serves.

Hayley Butler is Head of Marketing and Communications at The Reading Agency, a charity that uses the proven power of reading to tackle life’s big challenges from social mobility to mental health and wellbeing. Hayley leads the communications team to amplify the great work being achieved across the organisation, impacting over 1.9M people annually. Hayley has over 10 years marketing and communications experience within the charity sector with a focus on delivering successful partnerships, ambitious campaigns and innovative fundraising projects which have community engagement and social justice at their heart. Throughout her career, Hayley has strived to empower people especially those under 30 by enabling access to education, art and culture. As a leader and trustee, Hayley aims to support people and organisations to reach their full potential.

Pavitra Raja is the Programme & Engagement Lead on Social Innovation at the World Economic Forum. She engages with world class social innovators, and public sector intrapreneurs to scale social innovation policy and practice. She also leads on programme, content and communications at the Schwab Foundation, having designed programmes for several World Economic Forum meetings such as the Annual Meeting in Davos, Sustainable Development Impact Summit, along with the annual global digital launch of the Social Innovators of the Year at the World Economic Forum. Pavitra has also consulted with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, worked in private and public sectors in legal affairs, policy, and marketing/communications. She holds a Juris Doctor, specialising in Intellectual Property Law and International Law, along with a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations, Political Sciences, and Marketing & Communications. Pavitra also speaks six languages.