
Oli Barrett MBE
Cospa

Karen Lynch is the former CEO of leading social enterprise Belu Water, transforming the loss-making venture into a highly profitable, multi-award winning consumer brand. Prior to being at the helm of Belu for ten years, she has previously led a more traditional career at EMAP, Barclays, Audi and Pork Farms.
Karen was responsible for negotiating and implementing Belu’s long-term exclusive partnership with WaterAid in 2011, developing ‘Ethical Glass’ and for coordinating supply chain and compositors across the water industry.
She has overseen an astonishing donation of over £1m to WaterAid, raised through trading with Jamie’s Italian, Sainsbury’s and Café Rouge to name just a few. Karen led Belu to be the winners in the UK Social Enterprise Awards, RBS SE100 Awards and the SMARTA Breakthrough 50, with personal honouree from the Women in Enterprise Network and Lloyds People Environment and Achievement Awards – Overall Champion.
In addition to Belu she is extremely proud to have mentored other social enterprises such as From Babies with Love and Rubies in the Rubble, and has been a judge for both the Social Enterprise UK Awards and The Big Society ‘Business Impact Challenge’. In 2021, Karen took up the role of CEO here at Expert Impact.
Oli Barrett MBE
Cospa
Ben Elliot
Quintessentially
Carrie Longton
Mumsnet
Julian Metcalfe
Itsu