Seven Leadership Lessons from Seven Years of Bankuet

Seven Leadership Lessons from Seven Years of Bankuet

Seven years ago, I founded Bankuet after volunteering at my local food bank and noticing a simple, solvable problem: the items arriving weren't the items actually needed. This is the first of two posts - the second dives into the data behind our community's impact.

To mark Bankuet’s seventh anniversary, I’m sharing seven leadership lessons from building the UK’s first digital zero-waste food donation platform.   Anniversaries are a good excuse to look back. So here are seven things that leading Bankuet has taught me - some learned the easy way, most not.  I hope at least one is useful to someone building something of their own.

1. Proximity comes before innovation

The idea for Bankuet didn't come from a whiteboard or boardroom. It came from the front line: first setting up a collection point with friends locally in Hackney, then volunteering at a food bank week after week. That's where I saw the gap - generous donations arriving, but rarely the right things at the right time.

You can't disrupt a system you haven't served or worked in. If you want to innovate somewhere, go and stand in it first.

2. Borrow shamelessly from other industries

I spent 15 years in music and film, watching CDs and DVDs give way to streaming. When I looked at food bank donations, I saw the same broken model waiting for the same digital shift.

A former boss and successful entrepreneur once offered me these words: Know what you know. At the time I didn't know much (and still don't), but I appreciate and understand those words more than ever. Your past career is rarely wasted - it's your unfair advantage.

And it’s never too late to start. I recall an Arthur Brooks lecture in 2025 where he spoke about “Crystallized Intelligence” - the ability to use stored knowledge and experience. Unlike raw analytical speed which peaks early, this intelligence grows with us. It was a powerful reminder that our past experiences aren't baggage; they are the foundation for new ways to serve.

3. Understand the system, not just your part of it

My default has always been People > Process > Tech, in that order. This wasn't a discovery made later on; it was my starting point from day one.  This is what has made Bankuet what it is, even though we’re a tech based organisation.

It wasn't until I joined the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses programme in September 2025 that I found the language to describe what I had been practicing all along: "Systems Thinking." It was a moment of validation, not revelation. Even in the age of AI, this posture means humans in the lead, not just humans in the loop. Technology is a lever; it's people who decide what it lifts.

4. Start embarrassingly small, but prepare for success

We began with a single pilot at Wandsworth Foodbank in July 2019. Ten food banks were on the platform by that Christmas and I'd met all of them in person.

Then, eight months after launch, the pandemic hit and donations surged over 5,000% in a month. We scaled overnight - not because we saw COVID coming, but because a demand-led, digital model flexes in ways a physical one can't.

A former mentor always said to me, "Prepare for success." Our tech, systems, processes and ways of working were ready for growth -  just not quite that rapid! Proving the model at a small scale is exactly what made scaling at speed possible.

5. Let the people you serve write the shopping list

Zero waste isn't a slogan; it's the result of asking food banks what they need every week and buying exactly that - in bulk, so every pound goes further.

Listening is the most underrated operating model there is.  Most broken systems aren't short of resources; they're short of feedback loops.

I’ve since learned that this practice has a name: product discovery. Whether it's listening to people at a food bank, gathering insights from donors, or hearing directly from corporates about how they want to help, the principle remains constant.

Bankuet serves three distinct groups - donors, food banks, and partners - and to truly understand their needs, we must commit to listening to them constantly.

6. Surround yourself with people better than you

My mindset from day one - and, genuinely, the reality is I’m by far the least gifted person at Bankuet.  With an idea this big, the question was never "how do I do this?" but "who can help me execute it?"

Early on, when I felt the pressure to have every answer, I recall a conversation with Chris Clarke, our fractional CFO. He pulled me aside and told me that my role as CEO wasn't “to be the smartest person in the room, but to make sure the smartest people were in the right seats”. That one conversation changed how I've led ever since.

Then there’s the Bankueteers - the self-titled community of gifted people who gather around this mission: 200+ volunteers who stepped up during lockdown, and the brilliant people who have given their time and expertise ever since.

Add partners like Trussell, Feeding Britain, The Last Dinner Party, Baker McKenzie, Soho House and Goldman Sachs, and the truth is plain: nothing at Bankuet was built alone.

7. Endurance is a strategy

But the biggest lesson I'm still learning is that leadership requires vulnerability. I used to think of rest as a reward for hard work; I've learned it's a requirement for resilience. This problem of food poverty isn't going away anytime soon, so planning for the long term starts with me - present, fully rested, and able to lead Bankuet into its next chapter.

Seven years in, the mission is unchanged: get food banks what they need, when they need it. In a sector where urgency never fades, simply still being here - reliable, week after week - is one of the most valuable things you can offer.

Looking toward Year 8

As we step into our eighth year, my hope isn't just that we do more, but that we continue to do it with the same heart we started with. Thank you for being part of this story. There is still far too much food poverty in the UK - and far too many people one bad month away from needing a food bank. The work ahead is significant, but seeing what we’ve built together gives me every reason to be hopeful for the future.

If you'd like to be part of what comes next, you can donate, fundraise, or bring your food bank onto the platform at www.bankuet.co.uk/givenow.