[72], Responding to Octopus Energy's decision on Twitter, Andrew Neil, founder of GB News, said "Let me know if you want to advertise. With operations in the US, Japan, Germany, Spain, Italy, New Zealand and Australia, Octopus Energy Group's mission to drive the affordable green revolution is going global. Pay Minimum wage; Jackson gave up his 150,000 salary when the energy crisis began last autumn, donating the rest of his original salary to Octopuss staff welfare and its financial hardship fund, Octo Assist. [citation needed]. Read more . How would you define a successful business leader? The boss of Octopus Energy has a small tub, which pleases him as it is efficient and fills quickly. [5], In December 2021, Octopus Energy announced a long-term partnership with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, raising US$300m and taking the valuation of Octopus Energy Group to approximately $5bn. A business leader is someone who doesnt look to make quick money, but really wants to change their industry for the better, do something different and lead from the front, rather than worry about what their competitors are doing. He's founded a number of successful businesses, including e-commerce company C360, built HomeServe's innovation business and is an angel investor in a wide range of tech start-ups. Samuel Leroy Jackson (Washington D. C., 21 de diciembre de 1948), conocido como Samuel L. Jackson, es un actor y productor de cine, televisin y teatro estadounidense.Ha sido candidato al Premio scar, a los Globos de Oro y al Premio del Sindicato de Actores, as como ganador de un BAFTA al mejor actor de reparto y en 2022 se le entreg un scar honorfico a su trayectoria profesional. Thats an amazing 658% growth in your domestic customer based alone, and within the span of 2 years. [59] It was first licensed by UK rival Good Energy in late 2019, for an initial three-year term, to manage its 300,000 customers. Our researched showed that Octopus Energy has grown its domestic customer based in UK, from just 198,000 customers in 2018 to over 1.5 million customers in 2020. Having been in the industry for over 20 years, he has founded a number of businesses that he took to sale, including Affect Energy, which became part of the Octopus Energy Group in 2018. Prior to Octopus Energy, Zoisa was the UK Managing Director of the Dutch Utility, Eneco B.V. At Eneco, Zoisa helped grow the UKs renewable asset portfolio which consisted of more than 250MW of wind and solar projects, including a direct wire project with Honda of the UK Manufacturing Ltd. Eneco UK also supplied blue-chip companies such as Mars, Unilever, Heineken and AkzoNobel. Before Octopus he ran a business with Octopus' founder and CEO Greg Jackson (no relation, honestly!) The last 12 months has been tough on a lot of businesses due to the COVID 19 pandemic. You have cofounded a number of companies over the last 20 plus years, so its fair to say you are a serial entrepreneur. Hello Greg, and thank you for taking the time our to participate in this interview. Jackson and his family moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico when he was three years old. [9], In 2018 Hanwha Energy Retail Australia (Nectr) chose the Kraken platform, developed by Octopus to provide billing, CRM and other technology services to support its launch into the Australian retail energy market. Tara has spent two years leading Octopus Energys 1,000 strong UK operations team through a pandemic, an energy crisis and a day that saw 2 million customers submit meter readings all simultaneously. Weve established an incredibly flat structure here at Octopus, which allows people to make roles their own, and find what really works for them to make them happy to come to work every day. What advice do you have for other businesses on environmental sustainability and its impact on climate change? Rachel holds a Bachelors degree in Economics from the University of Sussex, as well as a Masters in Economic and Politics from the University of Cambridge. Coaches Honored with Jackson/Winkeljohn Dat, How a powerhouse MMA gym rose out of necessity and is helping others, Ranking the 10 Best Camps in MMA Right Now, Rankings Spotlight: MMAs Top 5 Fight Gyms, "War And Peace In Jackson's Gym - SI.com - Magazine", "Fighters Only World Mixed Martial Arts Awards 2010 - 2009 Winners", "Bellator's 'Fight Master' reality series set for summer debut on Spike TV", Jacksons Wink MMA Academy - Official Website, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Greg_Jackson_(MMA_trainer)&oldid=1055483227, Sportspeople from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 16 November 2021, at 03:38. Since our interview, Octopus has rejoined the race, submitting a last-minute bid. Rumours are that he may be training Zack "The Assassin" Stiles, 16 year old, in the future. 464 views May 4, 2022 Greg Jackson is the founder and chief executive of Octopus Energy, one of the UK's fastest-growing energy companies. Prior to joining Octopus Energy as Director of Operations, Tara spent three years at Tesla helping scale their service organisation in the UK & Benelux and as Country Manager for the UK. In our experience this leads to strong relationships between managers and team members, happier employees and higher productivity. You cant become a car dealer if you havent got the money to buy cars, says Jackson, exasperated. Please talk us through your entrepreneurial journey from when you graduated Cambridge University in 1994 to when you cofounded Octopus Energy in 2015? Jackson said the size of the supplier with 1.5 million customers meant there was no viable route for the business to be taken on by a competitor before its collapse. A weekly round-up of some of the best articles featured in the most recent issue of the New Statesman, sent each Saturday. Before starting KrakenFlex, Devrims professional career saw him take up executive roles with blue chip management consultancies and finance companies such as Publicis Sapient, Kearney and Lansdowne. We need to learn from the pandemic, Jackson says. Her work focused on making essential services sustainable, high quality and affordable. What inspired this leadership technique and what are the pros and cons of Octopus Energy not having a HR department? [44] In July 2021, Octopus acquired sister company Octopus Renewables which claims to be the UK's largest investor in solar farms, and also invests in wind power and anaerobic digesters. What we have to do now is a million times more complicated., The result of this simplified central planning could be seen the previous week, when electricity prices were colossally high, we were having to use lots of back-up supplies [and] we were literally paying wind generators in Scotland to turn off, because there werent enough cables connecting Scotland, where the electricity was being generated, to England, where we needed it., The solution, he says, is for the energy grid to become more like the internet. Epitomising the agile leadership that is synonymous with disruptive businesses, Zoisa leads both the generation the business retail arm of Octopus Energy. You cant centrally plan a system thats got 20 million electric cars, two million houses with solar panels, a million houses with batteries, and 5,000 large-scale wind and solar farms.. [68][69], In November 2021 Octopus financed 'Grace of the Sun', a large-scale art piece by Robert Montgomery made using the Little Sun solar lamps designed by Olafur Eliasson and Frederik Ottesen. I want them to know that their work is making a difference, everyday. About   Greg: Dont get me wrong, profit and value are incredibly important to a companys life-cycle, but happiness should be put above all else. We'll cover a range of topics, including asking Greg what 2023 holds for the tech and energy sector at this challenging time, and which technologies he thinks are going to make a difference to the sector in the future. These are things we should do everything to avoid., He believes the energy crisis has underscored the need for Britain to move away from oil and gas. [43], In its early years the company did not generate gas or electricity, instead making purchases on the wholesale markets. What would you say are the most important traits business leaders should possess to be successful? I speak to tech founder and CEO of Octopus Energy Greg Jackson about how he used tech as the platform to disrupt one of the industries most resistant to, and in need of disrup Show Leaders in Cleantech, Ep Greg Jackson, Octopus - 75 - Apr 8, 2021 .more. Its technology platform Kraken also achieves dramatically lower cost to serve than rivals, so cheaper, green power is delivered hand in hand with unbeaten customer satisfaction levels. More recently in my work history Ive specialised in creating technology & ecommerce platforms, something me and Octopus Energy CTO James Eddison did together for clients such as Greene King and SAP. Spaces are limited for this very special event so make sure you dont miss out by signing up here. She has deep knowledge gained across four industries and a lifelong passion for customer and team transformations. Will Dunn is business editor of the New Statesman. By 2030, Octopus aims to supply around 2.5 million households with green electricity through Fan Club schemes. [50][51] In November 2021, Octopus Energy announced plans to raise 4 billion to fund the global expansion of its Fan Club model, which would be expanded to include solar farms. We are also able to license out Kraken to other energy companies, allowing them to make use of the same efficiencies. Octopus are on a mission to bring cheaper, greener power to all. It is truly bonkers, he says, that the UK persists with a system in which central planners decide what cables are going to go where you can centrally plan a system thats got 100 power stations. Hey I'm Constantine, welcome to Octopus Energy! He says it took years to find the 10m he needed to launch Octopus. On 26 September, it was announced that Octopus would be taking on the 580,000 former customers of Avro Energy, which had ceased trading the previous week. We then realised the change within the energy industry we could enable with a strong technology platform underpinning us, and thats how Octopus Energy came about. 8 Dislike Share Save. Family In a relationship; has two children from previous partners. You can meet Greg Jackson and hear more about where he got where he is today at My Entrepreneurial Journey with Greg Jackson on Thursday, 21 November. Our middle management team in operations - which makes up most of our team - fares even better, being made up of 80% women and most of them have been with us from the first 50 employees we hired, showing that people are happy here and like to stay. Stuart has a degree in Economics from Cambridge University. Are you happy doing what youre doing? [28], In October 2022, Octopus reached an agreement to acquire Bulb Energy's 1.5 million customers. Theyve secured excellent leasing rates on leading EVs, designed a great EV salary sacrifice scheme to help businesses increase the uptake of EVs, created energy tariffs designed specifically for EV drivers, and have partnered with smart charging tech companies to enable customers to access cheap and green energy rates with ease. [55], Octopus Renewables is contracted as the investment manager for Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust, an investment trust established in 2019 which owns wind and solar generation in the UK, Europe and Australia. London Tuesday 8th November - This evening, the founder and CEO of Octopus Energy, Greg Jackson, joined consumer champion Martin Lewis on his flagship TV show on ITV. I dont just want them to come in and do things for the company. Greg: I prefer the term business leader to entrepreneur, and they can come in all shapes and sizes. Now his mission is to turn Britain on to renewables, despite the efforts of a small noisy group, including Nigel Farage, attacking net zero goals. Recommended Provider accolade five years in a row. Sign up to receive information regarding NS events, subscription offers & product updates. [16][17], In January 2020, ENGIE UK announced that it was selling its residential energy supply business (comprising around 70,000 UK residential customers) to Octopus. [19], In 2020 Octopus completed two funding rounds totalling $577m, making the company the highest funded UK tech start-up that year. Octopus founding team are from tech rather than energy backgrounds and are determinedly using technology to drive down prices, enable great service and drive towards a renewable future through the smart grid, which is essential to decarbonise affordably. Three Co-op brands were affected: Octopus acquired the customers of the GB Energy and Flow Energy brands, and began to operate the accounts of Co-op Energy customers on a white label basis, while Midcounties retained responsibility for acquiring new Co-op Energy customers. Octopuss youthful workforce is poring over energy consumption charts and enthusing about that bespoke tech, called Kraken, which will now be licensed to other utility companies. The only energy supplier Which? Gregory Jackson (born 1974) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) trainer who co-owns Jackson Wink MMA Academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico,[1][2] widely considered one of the top MMA training centers in the world. In your view what does it mean to be an entrepreneur and are all entrepreneurs businessmen or women? The customer accounts will be migrated onto Kraken from 2023, increasing the number of energy accounts contracted to be served via Kraken to over 20million worldwide. A quick update on the week in companies, markets, finance and the world of work. Do you have any influences that have inspired your entrepreneurial journey and how? [3][4][5][6] Jackson has trained many successful fighters, including former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones, former UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre, former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Holly Holm, former Light Heavyweight Champion Rashad Evans, and a roster of other UFC contenders and World Extreme Cagefighting champions. Refresh If the problem persists, please contact support. [25], In 2021, Octopus built the UK's first R&D and training centre for the decarbonisation of heat. Headquartered in London, the company has operations in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the United States. [65], In 2019 Octopus launched a 'Portraits from the Precipice' campaign, which sought to raise awareness of climate change and encouraged customers to switch to greener energy deals. Upstream reported that Jackson joined Greenpeace at the age of 16, and his expertise was in mirror manufacturing, coffee shops and software before launching Octopus Energy in 2015. The New Statesmans weekly environment email on the politics, business and culture of the climate and nature crises - in your inbox every Thursday. took on 600,000 customers from bust Avro Energy, a small noisy group, including Nigel Farage, attacking net zero goals. The acquisition was the first step in Octopus' $100m US expansion; at the time of the acquisition, Octopus announced it was aiming to acquire 25 million US customers, and 100 million global customers in total, by 2027. Zoisa also runs Octopus Energy's renewable generation arm, which recently announced the acquisition of a 3GW portfolio of renewable energy assets across seven countries. We took the 15 years it usually takes to make a vaccine, and did it in less than a year. Octopus energy is the UK's fourth largest energy provider, which boss Greg Jackson says he started because people were "paying too much" on their bills. [21], The same month saw Octopus launch the not-for-profit Octopus Centre for Net Zero (OCNZ), a research organisation tasked with creating models and policy recommendations for potential paths to a green energy future. For those that don't know Octopus Energy, they are UK's fastest growing green energy retailer and are currently valued at $2 billion. 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