Special Business and Finance Olympics UK Founders
There are 3 founding members of the Special Business and Finance Olympics who all got together and came up with this concept and idea.
They all obviously have a background in Business and Finance and make up some of the panel of judges every year.
Harry Cooper is aged 54 and started his business around 25 years ago in offering mortgage advice from one office based in Leeds, he now offers mortgage and financial advice from offices based in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle. His business has grown from strength to strength and he has watched it grow from the ground up. Harry also has previous experience providing advice for LandC who are a Mortgage Broker.
Sophie Harker is aged 45 and is the owner of a website aimed at mothers and babies/children which has seen the popularity and need for this online to grow massively. Everyone joins so they chat on forums and realise they are not the only ones going through a particular thing in their lives, a good place to share experiences and stories and does not just have to be about the children! However, it has gained huge popularity over the years and is still growing in this age of doing things online and social media.
Laurence Goodchild is aged 59 and has a financial advising company on the outskirts of London. He helps people decide where best to invest their money and to make more money by investing into the right thing. He has been in the business for over 30 years and knows what is what in the industry inside and out. He also has been involved in a number of contributions for Wikipedia involving mortgages.
All of the founding members got together and saw this as a great idea and concept of the Special Business and Finance Olympics and were interested to see how other businesses are working and communicating in this day and age. They met at a similar event but then thought how great it would be if they could start a bigger and better event with so many more activities and different ideas as they thought the one they were on was not well organised and that the businesses were not really gaining from the experience. They are interested in seeing how other companies work, especially with each other and as colleagues and with other companies as competitors and to make new friends and contacts that may be beneficial to all. These are some of the things they look for when judging the games and activities, which they also wanted to be a lot of fun but with a competitive edge, just like the Olympics!
Something everyone would be excited to take part in and feel proud and see it as an achievement should they win an award. They wanted to get these awards seen as an award to be coveted in the Business and Finance world and something everyone wants to have and is seen as an achievement by other businesses and something for them to strive towards as well. They hope one day to not only just be for UK businesses, but as the real Olympics, open to all businesses worldwide to enter.