At Future Forum’s opening session, three voices offer their vision of the future.
The future won’t be shaped in silos – it will be built by people who dare to think, collaborate and create differently.
That is the spirit host Oli Barrett MBE set out as he opened Future Forum and invited delegates to “leave your lane”: to step beyond familiar industries and perspectives and find inspiration in unexpected connections.
During the first session, Many Futures (Part I), three speakers answered his call to look into the future and give a glimpse.
In a world affected by war, democratic reversals and the plunder of natural resources, Dr Mbongiseni Buthelezi, chief executive of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, said he wants a future in which technology enables human beings to thrive. A future in which the Global South has meaningful participation and leadership serves the collective good – Nelson Mandela’s lesson.
Crucially, Dr Buthelezi concluded, that future “is not going to come about on its own: It’s a future that we have to work for and that we absolutely have to fight for.”
Dame Anne Glover, CEO and co-founder of Amadeus Capital Partners, saw the future through a different lens: speed. From the railway to the internet and AI, each acceleration of pace has transformed society – and the next waves, from quantum to photonic computing, are arriving faster than ever, in months rather than years.
Her advice was simple: invest in your own continuous learning, because our ability to survive well in a changing world will depend on our ability to adapt.
Meanwhile, Paul Lindley OBE, founder of Ella’s Kitchen and former chair of the Play Commission, urged delegates to reclaim childhood imagination. Invoking Mandela’s wisdom that “there can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children”, he called for a society measured by how well every child thrives – with time, space and rights to play.
Three voices, three futures, and a shared conviction: the future is between us.
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The Future of Childhood: Why We’re Failing Kids with Paul Lindley OBE
What if the future of society depends on how we treat children today? In this episode of Tomorrow: The Future Forum, Oli Barrett sits down with Paul Lindley OBE, entrepreneur, campaigner, and former CEO of Ella’s Kitchen, the UK’s leading organic baby and toddler food brand. From building one of…
Related speakers
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Paul Lindley OBE Founder / Chancellor / Chair of Ella's Kitchen / University of Reading / Play Commission
A corporate executive who left Nickelodeon for baby food – then made children’s futures the bigger mission.
Paul’s profile -
Anne Glover DBE CEO and Co-Founder of Amadeus Partners Capital
A scientist who spent three decades betting on technologies before the market knew what to call them.
Anne’s profile -
Dr Mbongiseni Buthelezi Chief Executive of Nelson Mandela Foundation
A literary scholar who learned to read institutions as closely as texts.
Mbongiseni’s profile
