Founders

Photo of Henry Warren

Henry Warren

Henry is a multi-award winning innovation expert and entrepreneur specialising in Education Technology. He is the co-founder & Chairman of the African education company Watobe and sits on the boards of several other charities and companies – almost always around education and technology.

He’s the former Director of Innovation for Pearson plc and the former Head of Innovation for GEMS as well as an advisor to His Highness The Aga Khan’s schools. Prior to that, he founded the school’s network Rafiki and the charity Gemin-i.

He’s a dad of three and is the alter ego of Barry T Tooth Fairy. Henry holds one of the more stupid Guinness world records involving sumo wrestlers and has also rafted the Nile holding a London traffic cone for reasons best known to himself.

Photo of Oli Barrett MBE

Oli Barrett MBE

Oli Barrett is a serial founder who enjoys making useful connections between people and ideas. He created Tenner, the UK’s largest schools enterprise challenge, in which over 250,000 pupils have made money and made a difference in a month, starting with just ten pounds. He co-founded Volunteer It Yourself (VIY), the social venture supported by Wickes, which has helped thousands of young people to fix their own youth clubs. His first job was at Walt Disney World in Florida, and his first experience in television was working on the launch of Bob the Builder. He co-founded The Rainmakers (an innovation and incubation company) in 2004, which continues to operate out of San Francisco. From 2008, he co-created and led eleven international trade missions (including WebMission and the Clean and Cool Mission), to help companies succeed overseas. In 2011, he co-founded StartUp Britain, launched by the British Prime Minister and funded by the private sector. The campaign led to the creation of PitchUp Britain (with John Lewis and Sainsbury’s) and PopUp Britain, with the opening of shops around the UK. Oli hosts The Lens podcast with Business in the Community, which pairs senior leaders with future leaders, to discuss the future of work. He is a regular conference and awards host, for events across education, technology and entrepreneurship. He is on the advisory boards of Tech London Advocates, One Million Mentors and Troubadour Theatres, and is a Fellow of impact incubator and business builder Zinc. Through The Connector Unit, founded in 2016, he tries to forge valuable and creative connections across a range of sectors and industries.

Leib Lurie​

Leib’s first captions company launched in 1992 

Leib recognized the potential of “caption technology” and started Prime Time Reader, his first CC initiative with a mission to “Turn passive TV time into beneficial reading time”. Based on his 1992 vision  “Make Screen Time Reading Time ®”  is a proudly registered trademark of the USPTO.

“The “Caption Thing” was always at the back of my mind as we lived more than ever in a digital world with laptops, cell phones, and tablets all a major part of life.  I was always captivated by a national campaign’s power to shift mindset in America – take the Buckle Up seatbelt campaign, and how ultimately, it saved thousands, if not millions, of lives since its inception. The Recycling and Designated Driver campaigns also had the same positive impact on society and our planet.” – Leib Lurie