Tessa Clarke

Tessa Clarke is the Co-Founder & CEO of OLIO, the world’s only neighbour-to-neighbour food sharing app, with over 5 million users distributing 35 million portions of food and 3 million non-food items. Tessa is a knowledgable and engaging speaker, who talks on a range of topics, including The Entrepreneurial Journey, innovation, ‘tech for good’, diversity, the future of business and work, and sustainability.

Tessa Clarke is the Co-Founder and CEO of OLIO, the world’s first neighbour-to-neighbour sharing app, tackling the problem of waste by making it easier for people to share food and household items with others living nearby. What began as a simple idea sparked by personal frustration has grown into a global movement. Since launching in 2015, OLIO has attracted over 6 million users across more than 60 countries, with over 120 million meals and 15 million household items shared to date. This has helped save an extraordinary 13 billion litres of water and 110,000 tonnes of CO₂—and counting.

The idea for OLIO came to Tessa during her second maternity leave, while preparing to move home. When removal men told her to throw away perfectly good food, she set out to find someone nearby to give it to—but couldn’t. Shocked at how difficult it was to share something so basic, she realised there had to be a better way—and OLIO was born.

Tessa’s career has been defined by driving purposeful innovation. After studying Social and Political Sciences at Cambridge, she joined The Boston Consulting Group before moving into the media world at Emap, working across leading brands like FHM, Magic Radio and Retail Week. She later joined Dyson as their first C-level digital director, working closely with James Dyson to lead the company’s global digital transformation.

With OLIO, Tessa combines her commercial acumen with her deep commitment to sustainability and social impact. The app’s growth has been powered by a grassroots community of over 100,000 volunteers, including Food Waste Heroes who collect surplus food from businesses like Tesco, Pret and Iceland to redistribute it via the platform. Under Tessa’s leadership, OLIO has raised over £34 million in funding, including a £27 million Series B, and has been recognised by the United Nations, winning a coveted “Momentum for Change” award for its scalable impact on climate change.

A passionate advocate for ‘tech for good’, Tessa is an accomplished and compelling speaker on a range of topics including sustainability, innovation, the entrepreneurial journey, women in leadership, and the future of business. She’s a TEDx speaker, regular columnist for Sifted, and a trusted voice on how businesses can build profit with purpose. She also supports the next generation of founders through mentoring programmes such as Upscale, and is part of the Mayor of London’s International Business Programme.

Tessa brings warmth, clarity and sharp insight to every stage she steps onto—cutting through the noise with powerful storytelling, deep expertise, and a drive to show how small actions, done collectively, can change the world.