Join us for June’s special Rip It Up @ Paddington Works London Tech Week event hosted with Paddington Works to discover the stories behind disruptive start-ups movement as we present the companies and individuals who have decided to Rip It Up, Start Again, past and present!
Led by Lulu Laidlaw-Smith, these dynamic innovators will take our guests through their experiences in the world of disruption, sharing the stories and insights they have gained along the way.
Els Caballero — https://www.weboxworkshops.com/
Founder: WeBox
Els worked for 10 year in the corporate world, 8 years of which were at Google, and then decided to follow her passion into boxing. She became qualified as a BoxingYoga and Boxing coach and through her passion for the sports and skills she learned as a coach, she co-founded Webox together with Lesley Sackey, former GB Boxer, to help everyone think, feel and perform like a champion at work through their movement #IAMACHAMPION. We focus on employee engagement, personal development and health and wellbeing in a dynamic way. Using the tools Lesley had learned in the ring and Els’ experiences in the corporate world, they deliver a powerful program with winning results.
Marcus Kern & Esteban Diaz Asua — @getduesday
Founder: Duesday
Marcus and Esteban are serial entrepreneurs who have co-founded, grown and exited their own payments businesses over the last 15 years. The duo re-joined forces in 2017 to build their most ambitious company yet. Duesday is a FinTech revolutionising Direct Debits and managing regular bill payments. With their first round of funding Duesday launched their UK platform, built their smartphone apps and got an FCA license. Now they have two banks asking them to bring their tech to Mexico to solve bill payments there. Currently in their £1.9m seed round to launch Duesday into Mexico they already have more than half of it secured and closing over the summer. The duo is ripping apart some old-fashioned pay rituals and use cutting edge tech to start again with what we all do every day: Paying our dues.
Olivia Knight — @Patchworkit
Founder: PatchWork
Olivia Knight spent ten years as a Partner and strategist at eatbigfish brand consultancy, then two years as a Creative Director for environmental charity Do The Green Thing, before launching the Patchwork group gift platform. Olivia is interested in the intersection between business, politics, community and the environment. An active member of the women in tech and London startup community, she is Chair of Sharing Economy UK. Olivia lives in Brockley, South East London, with her husband and two children.
Rosie De Malmanche — https://ourcloset.co.uk/
Founder: Our Closet
Founded in 2018, I created Our Closet to give the women of the UK the chance to jump onboard the circular fashion lifestyle which is super popular with the babes of Australia. Before relocating to London I was running a successful online dress rental business in Perth, Australia renting out the gorgeous designer pieces I had collected over the years, often from overseas. A bunch of my girlfriends gave me their precious pieces to rent out on their behalf too, but this was always a bit of a pain in my butt as they would often want them back at the last minute to wear out that night. I decided to create a platform where they could lend out their own pieces in a safe and secure way while still being able to wear them themselves whenever they wanted. Our Closet is a way for women to make some money back from their purchases. At the end of the day, I want us all to cut down on the fast fashion we’re buying then throwing away which is going straight to landfill. I want women, before they buy a new outfit, to think will I wear this again?Would someone else want to wear this? For this price, could I rent something from my favourite luxury designer instead? I hope you love lending and borrowing your designer pieces as much as I do.
