Caroline Plumb (37), the founder of Freshminds, has been awarded an OBE in the Queen’s 90th Birthday Honours list for her services to Business and Charity.
Commenting on the news, Caroline said: “I'm so thrilled and honoured to be receiving this award but it would not have been possible without all those who have supported me along the way. Many people talk about starting a business as 'going it alone' but in fact, I’ve found it to be quite the opposite. I’ve had the privilege of working with an amazing network of colleagues, clients and advisors and other supporters without which this wouldn’t have been possible.”
Caroline founded Freshminds in 2000 aged 21, with fellow entrepreneur Charlie Osmond straight after graduating from Oxford University. The pair turned down high-flying careers in management consulting to pursue their own business (against the advice of Richard Branson!) and have never looked back.
Caroline is passionate about inspiring others to start and scale businesses. She is one of the UK Government’s Business Ambassadors, responsible for promoting British businesses internationally. In this role, Caroline has travelled as far afield as Brunei and Singapore to inspire aspiring entrepreneurs and has accompanied the Prime Minister on a number of trade missions to promote trade and investment in British businesses.
Caroline has also been a member of the Independent Advisory Panel Member for the Regional Growth Fund, sat on the Board for the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship and acted as an advisor to the Said Business School.
