Head in the Clouds. Feet on the Ground.
20 years of impact through startups and adventures.
Helping people and organisations do work that matters to them (& the world) - startups, exciting careers, impact business & digital nomads.
Currently: Rebel Book Club.
accelerate your reading & network
Non-fiction books + community + action in 25 countries
build a tribe
Can I help you make your community stronger?
get your idea out there
Can I help you get started?
current
Not your average book club.
Monthly > non-fiction books, meets & action.
Never stop learning!
Founded 2015
Kickstart your Business
Not-for-profit Virgin company for Entrepreneurs.
Role: Business Advisor & Event Host
PAST projects
Sustainable Tourism project in Umbria
Co-founded in 2006: How we crowdfunded the building of an eco-tourism community on a Fijian Island.
currently supporting...
Organisations & projects I support with donations or time.
Works alongside rainforest villages to halt deforestation and climate change.
The global movement for tribal people's rights
Fighting for our world. Supporter since I was 10 years old.
Not perfect, but the best we've currently got for the world we need to build.
An affordable renewable energy utility company with great service.
The most innovative media org I know.
milestones
2005
Started 'Career Break Cafe' blog after driving to Timbuktu to help people plan long-terms trips mid-career
2006
Crowdfunded the renting of Vorovoro Island in Fiji (with 1000 new tribe members): Tribewanted was born
2007
Survived an island fire, a cyclone & a political coup in the first year of island life
2008
Celebrated 3 years island success - BBC tv documentary & book: 'Paradise or Bust'
2009
Travelled to Sierra Leone & worked with Right to Dream on setting up the Craig Bellamy Football Academy
2010
Spoke at launch party of Escape the City before setting up camp for a year on the beach in SL
2011
Became a founding member of THNK: The Amsterdam School of Creative Leadership.
2012
Supported the Ghanaian Paralympic team from Right to Dream with my fiancee at London 2012
2013
Launched Tribewanted's first European project: Monestevole, a farm in Umbria, with Filippo Bozotti
2014
Advised entrepreneurs at Virgin Startup, wrote about 'Schools for Life', mapped the world's treehouses & made the first 'Escape to the Woods' festival
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 2 more startup tribes & building our team. Rebel Book Club hits 20 books + 150 members
2017
Consolidated the Escape School - leading 2 more accelerators + getting our curriculums online. Mentoring at THNK & ZINC.vc + workshops with Virgin Starutp. Read 50 books in a year!
2018
Strengthened the startup programmes at the Escape School. Doubled size of Rebel Book Club. Moved our family to Ko Lanta in Thailand!
Lessons
2005
Its not what you start, its that you start. Selling online ads is hard.
2006
Braveness is rewarded but comes with significant responsibility. Don't complicate the mission.
2007
Tenacity is critical but being clear on priorities is not easy. Feedback can be good for the head but not for the heart.
2008
Ego can be the enemy if you're not careful. Power is better shared.
2009
New beginnings can revitalise.
2010
Taking on the biggest challenge not always the best business move but often the best life move.
2011
Keep your head in the clouds and your feet on the ground.
2012
Inspiration can come from unlikely sources - stay open.
2013
Sometimes its good to pick low hanging fruit.
2014
Creativity should be central to most things.
2015
Mindsets shift with community. Scaling impact models not easy.
2016
Building a team (& family at the same time) is hard.
2017
Focus on the product. Easy to say, hard to do well. When we did it made a big difference.
2018
Sometimes your comfort zone is closer than you think.
Bio
1999-2019: 20 years of startups and adventures.
On January 14, 2006, Ben Keene received an email that changed his life. The weather outside was rainy, windy, and freezing and Keene was holed up in his loft office, the window fogged with mist. He had just taken a sip of hot tea when the message popped up, and Keene did a double take at the subject line: “A TRIBE IS WANTED”
National Geographic
From this point Ben spent 10 years building Tribewanted: crowdfunded sustainable-tourism villages on an island in Fiji (which was turned into as a 5 part BBC series and book), a beach in Sierra Leone and a farm in Umbria.
Since then Ben has worked on a number of social enterprise and startup projects including Right to Dream (sports development and leadership in Africa), Escape the City (helping 1000s quit their corporate jobs to do something different), Virgin Startup (small business loans and support for startups), and THNK (a creative leadership school).
Ben has shared his adventurous startup stories and learnings with audiences all over the world including at a CIA conference in Las Vegas.
Ben spent6 months living on a Thai Island with his wife and 3 young kids, whilst working remotely as a business mentor and building Rebel Book Club, a growing community of 1000+ subscribers in 25 countries.
Skills:
Persuading people to give their big ideas a go.
Reducing financial risk.
Creative, cheap ways to test ideas.
Building community & momentum.
Aligning social and environmental purpose with strong business models.
Sharing stories.
book
"Couldn't put this book down - What a story. In a world where most of us fail to attempt anything bold, exciting or different it is refreshing to read of an entrepreneur who does so half the world away in a profoundly unique, intact Polynesian culture. Great pictures, too!"
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