Ben Keene
Social Entrepreneur & Keynote Speaker
Ben Keene is a Social Entrepreneur and Inspirational Speaker who co-founded Tribewanted, an eco-friendly sustainable community existing simultaneously in the virtual world of the internet and on an actual desert island.
With huge media interest, the courageous and bold idea could have had enormous consequences for tourism.
The idea behind Tribewanted was to recruit a group of similar people online before heading to the Fijian Island of Vorovoro to build a sustainable community alongside the local indigenous tribe.
The idea was swept along with a flood of interest, and the island lease was secured, and the virtual community sprung to life. All major decisions on the island are voted on by an online tribe that anyone around the world could join.
Sadly, the venture met with too many problems to overcome including a fire sweeping through the island in week one of the project, a military coup, and a tropical cyclone threatened to wipe out the emerging village. Online disagreements also made decision making hard and pushed the project to the edge.
Since then Ben has been involved in numerous other projects including –
• 2011 – Became founding member of THNK: Amsterdam School of Creative Leadership.
• 2012- Supported the Ghanaian Paralympic team from Right to Dream at London 2012
• 2013 – Launched Tribewanted’s first European project
• 2015 – Spent the winter hosting startups in Bali with Tribewanted (& pool hunting), started Rebel Book Club in London & led the startup tribe programs at Escape the City
• 2016 – Full-tilt at Escape London – leading two more startup tribes & Rebel Book Club hits 20 books + 150 members
• 2017 -Consolidated the Escape School – leading two more accelerators + getting our curriculums online. Mentoring at THNK & ZINC.vc + workshops with Virgin Startup. Read 50 books in a year!
• 2018 -Strengthened the startup programmes at the Escape School. Doubled size of Rebel Book Club.
SPEAKING TOPICS
Ben Keene is a popular choice of speaker sharing stories about how to build a career around your passion – whatever your age or background.
His journey shows how you can turn a passion into a job, a way of life and so much more. A truly inspirational speaker
“Everyone found Ben’s session and presence inspirational.”
— Dame Jo Williams DBE, Chief Executive, Mencap
“Ben Keene gave one of the best presentations I have ever seen on the ideas behind Tribewanted.”
— David McQueen, Speaker, Entrepreneur, TV Presenter
“The best speech at the conference by a mile.”
— Chris Cramer, ex-President CNN International
“Brilliant talk, brilliant structure, utterly relevant, captivated the students.”
— Malvern College
