Richard Reed

Co-founder of Innocent Drinks, Richard Reed and his University friends engineered the company from a small stand at a music festival to an internationally renowned and respected giant. The charitable company is leading the healthy eating trend. Since leaving Innocent, he is now the co-founder of JamJar investments. Richard is an expert keynote speaker on topics such as on leadership, innovation and branding. Likeable and approachable, Richard Reed inspires audiences with his amazing start-up story and paints a picture of what it is to be a modern entrepreneur. Richard founded Innocent in 1998 with two friends from Cambridge University, Adam Balon and Jon Wright. After graduating he worked in advertising for four years but the desire to set up his own company got the better of him and with his two college friends they decided to go for fresh juices with a fresh attitude and an emphasis on corporate social responsibility. Innocent has been recognised for its enlightened approach to business, where all members of the team receive equity in the company, get free breakfasts, travel grants and a share in the profits. The company gives 10% of its profits to charity and funds a separate charity called The Innocent Foundation that invests in rural development in the countries where the fruit comes from. Innocent smoothies have won more taste tests than all their competitors put together, and are increasingly available throughout Europe. Richard strongly believes that starting up a company is open to all and that entrepreneurship should be taught in schools. He has won many awards for entrepreneurship as well as countless accolades for his products including The Grocer magazines Gold and Branded Excellence Awards and the Quality Food and Drink Awards known as the Foodie Oscars. Richard’s business mantra centres on simplicity, caring deeply about the product and the wider picture, involving the workforce, focusing on detail, listening to criticism – and letting image look after itself. Teemat: The Innocent Story – From Start-up to exit | Corporate Social Responsibility | How Creativity Leverages Innovation | Entrepreneurship | Marketing | Management | Creative Thinking