Jimmy's Jobs of the Future

 Today's episode is special for two reasons- firstly it's one of the first we've recorded in person a long time.But this is also our second in the series organised with our partners: Octopus- who back the entrepreneurs of the future. And there are one better who exemplify that than today's guest Pooja Sikka. Pooja is a still practising GP, founder in her own right and formerly a partner at Octopus Ventures heading up their health tech investment wing- and it's this latter hat she’ll mostly be wearing as she speaks to us today.Octopus are producing a report in the emerging market of FemTech- technology designed around the improvement of women's health. And that forms a large part of today’s discussion-  female founders attracting VC investment is a recognised problem, but FemTech is an area that's traditionally been overlooked and undervalued despite the size of markets. We talk about Pooja’s fascinating career and how she brings together knowledge of health, entrepreneurship and finance. But first, we start in a topsy turvy way- bringing a question we usually save to the end right to the start..... You can find out more on our website or get in touch via hello@jobsofthefuture.coYou can follow us on social media:Instagram: @JimmysjobsTwitter: @JimmysjobsAnd most importantly on LinkedInSubscribe so you don't miss any new episodes, releasing every Wednesday.You can sign up to Jimmy's Substack here for weekly content on the future of work, technology, and politicsFor more information on partnering with us please visit our partnerships page here.Also make sure you subscribe to The Shift, you can find it here on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week's guest is Ari Last, founder of the on-demand childcare app Bubble.Bubble was actually integral to the early days of this show- being able to book a carer quickly allowed me to record this show during my daughter's nap times and get it off the ground.Childcare is in what Ari terms 'systemic failure' and in this episode, we discuss how it can be solved: from how the pandemic has changed attitudes in parenting to employers understanding childcare as a serious issue for their employees.We also talk about trust- crucial for any form of childcare- and you'll hear exactly how Bubble is addressing this problem through a digital-first experience. With jobs of the future, and arguably an industry of the future, this is a cracking episode on a complex and interesting topic.Ari, incidentally, also has a degree in broadcast journalism- in other words, far more qualified than me to host a podcast.Subscribe so you don't miss any new episodes, releasing every Wednesday.You can sign up to Jimmy's Substack here for weekly content on the future of work, technology, and politicsFor more information on partnering with us please visit our partnerships page here.Also make sure you subscribe to The Shift, you can find it here on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is the second part of our interview with Octopus co-founder Simon Rogerson.If you haven't listened to it already, do check out the first half which is quickly becoming one of our most downloaded episodes yet.In this episode, we talk about how Octopus grew and how you maintain an entrepreneurial culture as a business grows from 0 employees to over 750. Keeping that special disruption and entrepreneurial nature that Octopus is so well known for has been no mean feat over 20 years but especially during the pandemic.Listen on to find out what exactly Simon means by 'the Amazon of Energy" as well as a new feature at the end of the episode. You can find out more on our website or get in touch via hello@jobsofthefuture.coYou can follow us on social media:Instagram: @JimmysjobsTwitter: @JimmysjobsAnd most importantly on LinkedInSubscribe so you don't miss any new episodes, releasing every Wednesday.You can sign up to Jimmy's Substack here for weekly content on the future of work, technology, and politicsFor more information on partnering with us please visit our partnerships page here.Also make sure you subscribe to The Shift, you can find it here on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our guest today is Simon Rogerson, co-founder of the Octopus Group. He says that you can broadly split people into two categories in life: those that are a drain and those that radiate energy. It is something that I wholeheartedly agree with.  And Simon is one of life’s biggest radiators, giving off energy wherever he goes.Octopus are a partner on this podcast and one of the joys of that partnership is being able to spend more time with the company and get a further understanding of what the founders Chris and Simon have built over the last 20 years. They started a fund management company 20 years in their bedroom with one phone line and one copy of the yellow pages. Now the Octopus Group is one of the most powerful engine rooms of the UK entrepreneurial ecosystem and has been responsible for spinning out unicorns such as Octopus Energy. The interview is split into two, with this episode focusing on the story of how Octopus was founded, how it became a B-corp, its social responsibilities and how it's disrupting untrusted industries.Join us next week for more of an exploration of Simon as a character- and how that bleeds into the culture of Octopus as an entity.If you feel you’ve been affected by the issues Simon has brought up around financial literacy, and want to do something about it,  do look up Octopus’ money coach at www.octopusmoneycoach.comYou can find out more on our website or get in touch via hello@jobsofthefuture.coYou can follow us on social media:Instagram: @JimmysjobsTwitter: @JimmysjobsAnd most importantly on LinkedInSubscribe so you don't miss any new episodes, releasing every Wednesday.You can sign up to Jimmy's Substack here for weekly content on the future of work, technology, and politicsFor more information on partnering with us please visit our partnerships page here.Also make sure you subscribe to The Shift, you can find it here on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our guest today is Alice Bentinck, co-founder of Entrepreneur First.EF (as it's more commonly known) celebrate their tenth year this week and co-founders Alice & Matt have gone from strength to strength - even fostering their first billion-dollar company in Tractable … which also happens to be the UK's 100th unicorn.But it has not been plain sailing - as you’ll hear today.There are many myths around entrepreneurship that I try to challenge on this podcast, one of which is that entrepreneurs are born not created. I believe it has never been easier to be an entrepreneur and is now a much more credible career choice than even 10 years ago … However,  the number of tools and options available can also make it more difficult to know where to turn.EF looks to solve this by matching you up with a co-founder and learning the basics of entrepreneurship from some of the very best …and we are probably just at the beginning of their journey.A big thank you to all you listeners for powering us into the top 15 of Apple business podcasts ….If you are enjoying the series, it makes a massive difference if you could rate us on iTunes.It is wonderful to read reviews such as the one by Charles Fletcher of Navigate Politics or hearing from people like Eben Owen who has recently got a job having been inspired by the guests on the podcast.You can find out more on our website or get in touch via hello@jobsofthefuture.coYou can follow us on social media:Instagram: @JimmysjobsTwitter: @JimmysjobsAnd most importantly on LinkedInSubscribe so you don't miss any new episodes, releasing every Wednesday.You can sign up to Jimmy's Substack here for weekly content on the future of work, technology, and politicsFor more information on partnering with us please visit our partnerships page here.Also make sure you subscribe to The Shift, you can find it here on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our fantastic guest today is Alex Stephany, the founder of Beam, which is helping homeless people find careers through crowdfunding. One of the most powerful things you can do for someone is to give them a job and a sense of purpose. All the entrepreneurs on this show are job creators, but Alex is creating opportunities for some of the hardest people to find jobs for. Beam terms itself as a social impact business - an emergent phrase that has come from an exciting realisation: that the roles of being a business or a charity are no longer mutually exclusive.This is something the UK really leads the world in and Beam is a great example of the power of this combination. We’ll be hearing from Alex exactly how Beam works, how he thinks the UK job market has shifted as a result of the pandemic and how sometimes the answer is literally hitting you in the head.Do check out Beam's work and inspiring stories at https://beam.org/You can find out more on our website or get in touch via hello@jobsofthefuture.coYou can follow us on social media:Instagram: @JimmysjobsTwitter: @JimmysjobsAnd most importantly on LinkedInSubscribe so you don't miss any new episodes, releasing every Wednesday.You can sign up to Jimmy's Substack here for weekly content on the future of work, technology, and politicsFor more information on partnering with us please visit our partnerships page here.Also make sure you subscribe to The Shift, you can find it here on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And we’re live! A brand new series of Jimmy’s Jobs of the Future launches today.And what better time to launch than when careers and the future have never been more on the minds of young people and parents alike- A-level and GCSE result days.Our first guests need no introduction- Ben Francis & Noel Mack are the founder and Chief Brand Officer of Gymshark. Setting up their HQ in the Midlands, Gymshark is one of the most exciting brands in the UK and is now valued at over £1 billion. Ben and Noel would be the first to admit that traditional schooling and academia did not suit their strengths and neither left school with great results- but it didn’t stop them from becoming a success.This episode will delve into Ben’s first time meeting the Prime Minister, where he thinks the jobs of the future are coming from and the biggest disasters they’ve had at Gymshark. We hope this leaves you with inspiration and advice on how to start your career- or simply piques your interest in the future of the UK economy. You can find out more on our website or get in touch via hello@jobsofthefuture.coYou can follow us on social media:Instagram: @JimmysjobsTwitter: @JimmysjobsAnd most importantly on LinkedInIf your brain cells require even more tickling, do check out We Didn’t Start The Fire with Tom Fordyce (A Peter Crouch Podcast) and  Katie Puckrik. Episodes explore the history behind the lyrics from the hit Billy Joel song...Subscribe so you don't miss any new episodes, releasing every Wednesday.You can sign up to Jimmy's Substack here for weekly content on the future of work, technology, and politicsFor more information on partnering with us please visit our partnerships page here.Also make sure you subscribe to The Shift, you can find it here on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We are back for the third season of Jimmy's Jobs of the Future. 15 months into the pandemic, the UK's jobs market is holding up strongly once again, with lower levels of unemployment than the US, Canada, France, Italy, and Australia.Part of this is the furlough scheme but a longer-term trend is the fact that UK entrepreneurs are creating jobs each day that don’t get the same media headlines. And that is what this show aims to explore by speaking to those wealth and job-creating entrepreneurs about the skills they need in their fast-growing businesses. The season kicks off on Wednesday 11th August with Ben Francis who is building Gymshark in the West Midlands which now employs 800 people and is valued at over a billion pounds. You can check out more of our background and previous guests at www.jobsofthefuture.co We love hearing from listeners so do drop us a line at hello@jobsofthefuture.co with guests you’d like to hear from and how we can improve the show. We're also delighted to announce that we're once again partnering with Octopus to bring amazing entrepreneurial stories to the fore. Subscribe so you don't miss any new episodes, releasing every Wednesday.You can sign up to Jimmy's Substack here for weekly content on the future of work, technology, and politicsFor more information on partnering with us please visit our partnerships page here.Also make sure you subscribe to The Shift, you can find it here on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s guest is Salima Vellani, the founder and CEO of KBox Global- a company pioneering something called host kitchens, the next wave of innovation in the food delivery space. They have raised around £17 million from investors, making Salima one of the most heavily backed female founders in the UK. My very first meeting in Number 10 was with Will Shu, the founder of a then up and coming food and beverage company called Deliveroo. Even then Will mentioned the concept of Dark Kitchens and it’s fascinating to hear how even that concept is now being innovated.Salima talks us through exactly how host kitchens work, what it takes to set up a career in the Food and Beverage industry and how tech is allowing a rapid upskilling right across the hospitality industry. We’ve also launched a new website- find us at jobsofthefuture.coJimmy's Jobs of the Future is hiring, read more on our next chapter here.A reminder you can follow us onInstagram: @JimmysjobsTwitter: @JimmysjobsAnd most importantly on LinkedInSubscribe so you don't miss any new episodes, releasing every Wednesday.You can sign up to Jimmy's Substack here for weekly content on the future of work, technology, and politicsFor more information on partnering with us please visit our partnerships page here.Also make sure you subscribe to The Shift, you can find it here on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week’s guest is Giles English, who co-founded Bremont Watches with his brother in 2002 with the aim of bringing watchmaking back to British shores. Bremont have recently opened a state of the art technology centre called ‘The Wing’- a 35,000 sq ft manufacturing centre enabling the full machining and fabrication of Bremont’s watches, right here in the United Kingdom. Time was a precious resource in No.10 and one that dictated your life- the Prime Minister’s time being the most precious of all. Now my main engagement with time is my 20-month-old daughter pointing at my watch shouting TikTok! Either that or she wants to get on social media already …It’s a fascinating discussion about the revival of an ancient profession, the importance of regional investments for creating skilled jobs and one of the most charming stories of how a company was founded I’ve ever come across. We’ve also launched a new website- find us at jobsofthefuture.coJimmy's Jobs of the Future is hiring, read more on our next chapter here and you can sign up to our newsletter here.A reminder you can follow us onInstagram: @JimmysjobsTwitter: @JimmysjobsAnd most importantly on LinkedInSubscribe so you don't miss any new episodes, releasing every Wednesday.You can sign up to Jimmy's Substack here for weekly content on the future of work, technology, and politicsFor more information on partnering with us please visit our partnerships page here.Also make sure you subscribe to The Shift, you can find it here on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices