Meet the Entrepreneur during 'Enterprise Week' at OSA 2013

Dear All

This is the heads up of the guests speakers that will be around next week in assemblies and at  lunchtimes when you will have an opportunity to meet and ask questions and see how they created their own opportunities in life.

Tuesday - Colin Borough
I left school aged 17 and qualified as a Chartered Accountant. The next five years I spent working overseas – as an accountant. On returning home I embarked upon a career in the Theater.  I ran my own production company for fifteen years successfully producing plays in London, the English Regions and in New York. I then moved to Oxford to start a new career. I took over a small manufacturing business which I still run today. I also teach in various Oxford language colleges. I am a guide for overseas visitors to Oxford and London.

I continue to run my small manufacturing business and I have set up my own charity. I do voluntary work which includes working in Britain’s only therapeutic prison and mentoring ‘lifers’. I am a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Commerce and Manufacturing and an an elected member of the South Central Regional Committee. I am a Trustee of a London Museum. I assist at various local schools and colleges with interview practice and CV preparation. I visit schools to share with students my experiences of life so far. I try to encourage students to fulfill their potential, play to their strengths, and, if all goes wrong, never be afraid to start again.

Wednesday - Karen Johnson
Producing TV for BBC online Learning and for CBeebies. Making broadcast TV, radio and online content for children and teenagers mainly.

I taught English, Drama and Media in a secondary school until I was 29. I became a head of department for Technical and Vocational Education. I left to join the BBC and worked my way up from Trainee Assistant to Commissioning Editor for BBC learning. In 2008 I opened my own small TV production company. I am now self-employed and I use what I learned at school every day. I have to write, research facts, draft scripts, rewrite scripts, time them, estimate budgets and solve a thousand problems every time we have a shoot. My personal and social skills are extremely important to my success at work. I am keen that students should also be able to use the vital soft skills required in most workplaces.

Thursday - Gareth Thomas
I am a state school educated former Investment Banker (Mergers and Acquisitions at UBS) who set up one of the UK's few successful biotech companies, Stabilitech, whose technology allows vaccines to work at room temperature. I am a serial entrepreneur who has been involved in many self-created and high profile projects, including restarting Woolworth's  taking over Clinton Cards, HMV and other companies

I was one of very few boys from my large comprehensive school to enter University at first attempt. It was only there and afterwards I realised that I could achieve anything and that the competition wasn't so daunting. I had no idea what opportunities existed while I was at school and have enjoyed the work I have done with young people to help them realise that they can achieve anything they truly want, with or without the right education.

Friday - Lesley Cowley OBE

I lead the internet registry for .uk domain names and work internationally to develop the internet & internet governance I left school at 17 and have 'worked my way up'. When I left school, my job in the internet didn't exist!