Two weeks ago, I had the incredible opportunity to co-host Oxford Saïd Entrepreneurship Forum (OSEF), an amazing experience with speakers and panelists from multiple industries. Every year, Oxford Saïd Entrepreneurship Centre chooses MBA students from Saïd Business School to host and moderate the event. This year had a focus on AI, deep tech, and venture capital, with panels including ‘Deep Tech - Bridging the Gap from Lab to Market,’ and ‘AI at Work - Redefining Roles and Decisions’. To begin the event, the Centre hosted a beautiful gala dinner for all speakers and panelists the day before at the Oxford Divinity School, a historic space on campus built in the 15th century.
One of my favorite sessions was, ‘Space - How far do the opportunities reach in the next frontier?’ Since I come from the world of technology, specifically Salesforce, where I was for the last six years, hearing from visionaries in the space sector was such a different and interesting conversation. We heard about how space needs more ‘translators’ in the industry, or those who can bridge the gap between engineering and business to familiarize the public with what is possible in the galaxy.
The Forum also hosted some incredible speakers, including Juliet Barratt, the founder of Grenade. I chatted with her before I introduced her on stage and was able to learn more about how she decided to create Grenade. If you aren’t familiar with Grenade, they are actually the United Kingdom’s highest selling protein bar, which Juliet started almost 16 years ago when the protein industry in the UK was just beginning.
The final keynote of the day was led by Greg Jackson, CEO and founder of Octopus Energy. Greg led an incredible talk on how he began his entrepreneurial journey. Octopus is revolutionising the renewable energy space and since 2014 has expanded from the UK to Europe, and most recently the United States. Octopus was also named one of Europe’s fastest growing companies in 2021.
Oxford Saïd Entrepreneurship Forum was such an amazing opportunity to learn from other successful founders in the space, and network with other founders, both local and international. If you’re reading this, I hope you join us in 2025 for our 9th year running the event!
