Josh Littlejohn

This September, we are honoured to host Josh Littlejohn, social entrepreneur, philanthropist and homeless campaigner, who founded the Social Bite and World’s Big Sleep Out charity campaigns. Josh comes to talk about his new book Paying it Forward: How to be a social entrepreneur.

About the book

When Josh Littlejohn started a small sandwich shop in his home city of Edinburgh, he would never have thought that, within ten years' time, it would be frequented by Hollywood A-listers like Leonardo di Caprio and George Clooney, that he would have opened a string of successful cafés across the UK, and that he would be honoured with an MBE by the Queen.

Not to mention raising over £22 million to combat homelessness around the world. All this before his 35th birthday. And all set in motion by a rough sleeper, named Pete, walking into his shop and sheepishly asking him for a job. Paying It Forward is part memoir, part manifesto for social entrepreneurship, and part manual for putting purpose ahead of profit. It reveals what exactly social entrepreneurship is and how it can make a difference. How if only 20% of entrepreneurs became social entrepreneurs and focussed their energies on helping people, our world would be in a much better state.

The path to being social entrepreneur is never a smooth one: Paying it Forward is the compass for finding your own path and making a difference in the world.