Impact Session at Be Free Young Carers

Session No.4 Shared Prosperity: Business, Charity and the Future Workforce of the Oxfordshire – Cambridge Corridor

This event is limited to 50 guests

Join our host Sabiene North, CEO, Be Free Young Careers and panelists for a discussion on Shared Prosperity: Business, Charity and the Future Workforce of the Oxfordshire–Cambridge Corridor hosted at Quad Two, Rutherford Avenue, Harwell Campus, Didcot on 23rd February

About our host and interviewer

About Sabiene North

CEO, Be Free Young Carers. Values-led charity CEO with strong financial and governance expertise. Experienced in leading organisations through change while maintaining focus on people, purpose, and sustainable impact.

The Panel

About Gavin Jones

Co-founded Planet IT in 2003 and went from a two-man operation to a thriving IT powerhouse. Planet IT with a singular mission: to make IT solutions accessible, reliable, and transformational for businesses of all sizes.

Gavin leads an exceptional team of 100+ IT experts, mostly within the technical side of the business, who work relentlessly to ensure their clients stay ahead of the curve in cybersecurity, cloud computing, and IT strategy. His passion lies in empowering businesses to leverage technology as a growth enabler, not just a support function.

Gavin also co-founded Planet Recruitment in 2019 with two of the UK’s leading Recruitment Leaders. The aim was to simplify the hiring process for businesses across all sectors, including Industrial, Construction, IT, Commercial, Engineering and others. Planet Recruitment provides top-tier Temporary and Permanent talent solutions with the same commitment to excellence that defines our IT business.

In September 2025 Gavin joined Be Free YC as a Trustee.

About Ben Drabble

Charity CEO, TRAIN Inspiring Young People. Ben cares about making the world a bit fairer and kinder — and he has built his career around that. Ben started out as a civil engineer, moved into global volunteering, and spent time leading fundraising for one of the oldest humanitarian charities in the world. These days, Ben has the huge privilege of being CEO of a brilliant youth charity, working alongside an inspiring team to support young people to thrive.

There are loads of reasons I love what I do, but here are a few that really matter to me:

The mission: Ben wake’s up every day and do work that genuinely changes lives. That’s a huge motivator.

People and leadership: he loves helping others grow. Creating space for people to do their best work is something he’ll never stop caring about.

Solving problems: Give him a big, knotty challenge and he will be in his element. He enjoya thinking strategically and getting stuck into the detail.

Collaboration: Great things happen when people come together around a shared purpose. Ben really value the relationships that make this work possible.

Always learning: he is curious by nature. Learning isn’t a ‘nice to have’ — it keeps me going.

About Susie Besant

CEO and Founder, One-Eighty (since 2011). Responsible for the overall operations of One-Eighty, working alongside a board of skilled and experienced Trustees to make strategic decisions for the benefit of young people. Passionate about supporting young people to have hope and turn their lives around, in addition to providing staff with a supportive and inspiring work environment to develop in, to enable them to think creatively about what techniques to use with young people and families.

About Angus Horner

Angus Horner DL has been a Deputy Lieutenant for Oxfordshire since 2022. He is part of the Lieutenancy Team focused on the ‘Science Vale’ and Greater Didcot and is the Lieutenancy’s link to Harwell. He holds the Lieutenancy’s Business Brief for the County.

Angus is a Chartered Surveyor by profession, having established his own company, Prorsus, in 2009. Prorsus and Partners went on to acquire the Private Sector-half share in Harwell Campus, which is the leading science and technology campus in the UK. Angus was a shareholder and served as Campus Director to 2021, co-creating and stewarding its four Technology Clusters, before stopping to focus on new projects inside the UK Knowledge Economy. Angus was a member of the UK Vaccines Manufacturing & Innovation Centre’s Principals Group (2020-22) and co-chaired the Supercharging Innovation Places Task Force, alongside a government minister, in 2023.

In Oxfordshire, Angus is Deputy Chair of Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership and Director of Didcot First. He is a member of the Future Oxfordshire Partnership Board, the Oxfordshire Inclusive Economy Partnership Steering Group, the Didcot Powerhouse Charitable Fund, and the UK Fusion Energy Cluster in Culham. He is a trustee of Be Free Young Carers and has served as a governor of St Birinus School in Didcot.

Angus enjoys sport, having surfed 8 countries and played Sevenoaks Men’s Hockey 1st XI and Qualified Elite Men UK Triathlons. He lives on a conservation focused farm with his family.

About the Venue

Enter the calm, light-filled space of Quad Two, and you sense how every element of the design enhances employee health and wellbeing – an important consideration in Harwell’s development of its Quadrangle area and buildings. Four floors of brand-new Grade-A offices offer flexible space, including a kitchenette and passenger lift, to fit out as you wish.

Who can attend this event?

• Guests invited by our host and B4
• OBS2026 Sponsors – maximum of two tickets per Gold sponsor and one each for Silver and Bronze sponsors
• OBS2026 Ticketholders – access for named ticketholder only per Impact Session

If the above categories do not apply to you, you will need to purchase a ticket to the Oxfordshire Business Summit 2026 on 15th May 2026 which will also give you* access to all OBS2026 Impact Sessions. Please click on the link below to purchase your Oxfordshire Business Summit ticket/s and we will send you a code to register for this and the other Impact Sessions, but please note places are subject to availability.

*Access to OBS2026 Impact Sessions is only for the purchaser of OBS2026 tickets.

Oxfordshire Business Summit 2026 Tickets, Fri, May 15, 2026 at 8:00 AM | Eventbrite

Parking: Available on-site

Arrival instructions: Make your way to reception where you will be greeted by a member of the BFYC team

Refreshments of tea, coffee and pastries will be provided.