Kerl Haslam 

Kerl is the son of a black Jamaican father and an English mother from the East End. He grew up in a less than salubrious part of North London, which, as a mixed race boy in the 60s and 70s gave him a certain perspective and certain challenges.

After an unsteady start Kerl rose through the ranks to achieve a successful corporate career, culminating in being part of the senior management team at Orange, the hugely successful mobile telecoms business, which he left after helping it transition to its new owners following its sale to France Telecom.

Not enjoying the more constricted approach of the National carrier, Kerl established Mobile Sense – home of the first mobile wallet, which he ran successfully for seven years and sold to a US Private Equity firm.

It was at this time Kerl started to get involved with a local charity. Sportsable. Kerl saw the need for a complete restructure and took the role of CEO, introducing revenue creating opportunities and the concept of social enterprise.

Unfortunately the pandemic saw the demise of the charity but Kerl got the bug of social enterprise and, following a visit back to his father’s homeland of Jamaica, was moved to establish JIMSI, a social enterprise network built on the premise of; Teach a man to fish (Give a man a fish and you’ll feed him for the day. Teach a man to fish and you feed the whole village for a lifetime).