Available to book
Ben Towers
Drive innovation and entrepreneurial thinking with Ben Towers MBE, tech for good keynote speaker. Ben works with enterprises and governments on entrepreneurship, future of work, and technology strategy. Forbes 30 Under 30, MBE, clients include GlaxoSmithKline and Virgin Racing.
Ben Towers MBE is one of the UK's most recognised tech for good entrepreneurs. He started his first business at 11, exited it at 18, and now leads Happl, the Y Combinator-backed employee benefits platform. In 2026, he received an MBE for his services to the startup community.
Ben taught himself web design as a schoolboy and built Towers Design into a 26-person agency working with brands including IHG, Virgin Racing, and Champneys, completing a multi-million-pound merger before exiting in 2017. Along the way, he became the first person in the UK to hold a business bank account under the age of 18, earned a place on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and went on to advise the UK and New Zealand governments on youth entrepreneurship and AI strategy.
Today, Ben leads Happl, which uses AI to personalise employee benefits for global enterprises. He also invests in tech for good startups and advises corporates, including GlaxoSmithKline. As a keynote speaker, Ben combines practical ideas with anecdotes from a business career that began at school, covering entrepreneurship and the future through the eyes of a young founder.
Ben's sessions give leaders and teams a sharper sense of how entrepreneurial thinking, emerging technology, and purpose can work together, whatever the industry or career stage.
Book Ben to bring entrepreneurial energy and tech for good insight to your next event.
Topics, sessions and talks
Ben Towers built a website for £50 at the age of 11 and turned the experience into a 26-person agency, an exit at 18, and a Y Combinator-backed startup. He unpacks what each stage taught him about spotting opportunity, building teams, and starting again from zero, drawing on campaigns for brands including Amazon Echo and NHS Give Blood. A candid, anecdote-rich session for anyone ready to back their own ideas, whatever their age or job title.
Technology can solve real problems for real people, and the businesses that grasp this earn loyalty money cannot buy. Ben Towers draws on building Happl, the AI-powered employee benefits platform, and his investments in purpose-driven startups to show how organisations can pair commercial ambition with genuine social value. Expect practical frameworks, honest stories from the startup trenches, and a persuasive case for putting purpose at the centre of product and strategy decisions.
What does the next generation actually expect from work, leadership, and technology? Ben Towers advised the UK and New Zealand governments on youth entrepreneurship and AI strategy before turning 25, and brings a perspective most boardrooms rarely hear first-hand. He explores how younger employees, customers, and founders think, where established organisations misread them, and what genuine intergenerational collaboration looks like. A session that helps leaders see around the corner, told with humour and refreshing directness.
Testimonials
often considered together
Jamie Crummie
Sustainability
Entrepreneurship
Innovation
frequently asked questions
Something we've not covered here?
Ben Towers structures sessions around a chronological narrative of his own business career — from founding at age 11 through to his Y Combinator-backed startup — using each stage as a case study to surface transferable lessons on opportunity, team-building, and resilience.
Ben Towers MBE speaks on youth entrepreneurship and serial founding, tech for good and purpose-driven business, and intergenerational perspectives on work, leadership, and AI. He received an MBE in 2026 for services to the startup community, having built and exited a 26-person agency by 18, gained a Forbes 30 Under 30 listing, and gone on to found Happl, a Y Combinator-backed AI employee benefits platform.
No. PepTalk adds no booking fee, so you pay the speaker's fee and nothing beyond it. The service, from shortlist through to contracts and event-day logistics, is included. For repeat or multi-event bookings, PepTalk can agree preferential rates with your procurement team.
Share your event date, audience, format, objectives and budget, and PepTalk sends a hand-picked shortlist within 24 hours. Each suggestion comes with a profile, a fee and a recommendation on the strongest fit. Once you choose, PepTalk handles contracts, travel and logistics through to event day.
The typical fee range is the speaker's standard in-person fee in their home market, shown in their local currency. It moves with format, location, date and session length: virtual sessions and shorter slots usually cost less, while international travel and peak dates cost more. Send your brief to PepTalk and the team will confirm the exact fee in your currency.
Not all of them, and it makes no difference to your booking. PepTalk's network of 15,000+ speakers covers talent the team works with directly alongside speakers represented by agents and agencies worldwide. PepTalk approaches the speaker, negotiates the fee and handles contracting either way.
Three to six months ahead is comfortable for most events, and 12 months is better for large conferences, peak-season dates or one specific in-demand speaker. Shorter timelines are workable, and PepTalk regularly fills last-minute and replacement bookings within days. Availability is the constraint, so get in touch as soon as you have a date.
