Innovator Chronicles

#7: Tom Parkinson on tech innovation, pivoting a start-up and how failing is essential for success

Multi award winning MD Tom Parkinson talks about his inspirational journey from consulting and investment banking to the roller-coaster world of managing a rapidly scaling start-up. As Managing Director of SteamaCo, Tom focuses on driving tech innovation to revolutionize the energy industry across sub–Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. In this episode we learn how an experimental culture of consistent trial and error generates success. 

#6: Jo-Jo Hubbard on creating a consumer-centric energy-as-a-service platform

In our sixth podcast, Emily Watt talks to Jo-Jo Hubbard, Co-founder & CEO at Electron. With a background in cleantech financing and digital transformation consulting, she is now working to decarbonise and transform the energy sector with an energy-as-a-service platform. But with an initial vision to become a novelist, how did she make the transition to energy herself?

#5: Justin Lewis on inventing at Google, Tesla karaoke and using failure as a tool for innovation

Currently VP of incubation at bp, Justin Lewis is not only an innovator, entrepreneur, and start-up founder; he's also a gamer and an engineer at heart. From founding two software companies as a student to working on secret projects at Tesla and becoming a prolific inventor at Google, Justin has an impressive background in tech. In this episode, Justin talks to Emily Watt about what drives him and how bp's ambition for change attracted him to his current role.

#4: Rob Genieser on managing one of Europe's 1st environmental funds and opportunities in going green

In our fourth podcast, Emily Watt talks to Rob Genieser, Managing Partner at The Environmental Technologies Fund (ETF). As one of only a handful of students enrolled in an Environmental Business class at Harvard combined with his lifelong love of tech, Rob has been entrepreneurial throughout his career. In this episode Rob takes us on his journey from New York to Silicon Valley, then from Hong Kong to Europe, and explains how he now helps companies deliver sustainability through innovation.

#3: Tehsheena Shams on building billion-dollar business ideas and defying gender bias

In our third podcast, David Rae talks to Dynamo founder Tehsheena Shams. We follow Tehsheena's journey from being one of only a few girls in engineering school in a small town in Pakistan to building a billion-dollar business idea during a global pandemic.

#2: Richard Browning on human flight, his first $650K VC and jet suit racing in Bermuda

Dubbed the "real-life Iron Man", Richard Browning has not only developed a 1000hp jet suit enabling human flight, but he's now working on launching a first-ever jet suit race series in Bermuda. From BP's oil trading business to delivering a Ted Talk and chatting to Elon Musk backstage about flying people to Mars, Richard has a personal journey worth sharing.

#1: Matt Smith on taking the leap from big corporate to founder & CEO of regtech startup

In the first podcast of this series, David Rae talks to Matt Smith, founder and CEO of SteelEye. We follow Matt's journey from a successful career spanning over 20 years in large corporates, to taking a huge leap and starting his own compliance technology and data analytics firm.