Meet the employee - Ollie Povey
When he realised he was unlikely to make it as a footballer (even for his beloved Blackburn Rovers), cricketer, rugby-pro, or in fact any sport, Ollie Povey looked for an alternative career plan.
“I contemplated going into teaching and took a year out in between school and uni to work in a school. It was a typical gap year thing, where I dabbled in sports coaching and taught Maths and Latin. I really enjoyed it and I thought it was interesting, but it confirmed to me that perhaps teaching wasn’t my calling,” he recalls.
“Entrepreneurship runs in the family so it is something I've been exposed to all my life. I have always found stories about companies; how they are founded and grow, very interesting. I’ve spent many hours listening to ‘How I built this’ with Guy Raz and knew I wanted to do something in business, but I didn’t know exactly in what shape or form that might take.”
Having always enjoyed - and been good at - Maths, Ollie decided to study Finance at the London School of Economics (LSE), figuring that it was something he’d enjoy, while also giving him a solid grasp of how companies are run.
After graduating, Ollie’s interest in the development of people, as well as the business themselves saw him spend 5 years consulting larger companies, before founding his own tech start-up. This allowed him to combine his skill with numbers with his people-skills.
“The success of a start-up is largely dictated by the quality, happiness and engagement of its team. If they’re unhappy, not motivated, or you're hiring the wrong people in the first place, I think you're much less likely to succeed in the long run. But, if you can get that right, you go a long way to giving yourself a great shot of success.”
It was that idea that brought him to MyEdSpace, joining as Chief of Staff in the middle of 2025.
“I sit within the founders team, working on projects that could be touching any part, or multiple parts, of the business at the same time. In practice, I probably spend about 50% of my time working in ‘People and Talent’, building a team and ensuring the people we have here are growing. The other 50% of the time, I’m working closely with the Education team to make sure that we have the right structure and processes in place to deliver the best possible education to our students. It’s a nice balance.”
The drive to ensure every child can access the best possible education is a big motivator for Ollie. “It sounds like a cliche, but I genuinely believe we are really making a difference at a societal level,” he asserts.
Another big motivation for Ollie is the people he is working alongside.
“We have a group of people at MyEdSpace who work here for a reason. Every single person has something specific that draws them to the mission; often their own education, their family or their friends. That means everyone is incredibly driven, smart, and very focused on getting things done. I love that I’ll regularly have a discussion with someone about a task, and, by the time I get around to checking how they're getting on, they've already done it. That is incredibly motivating - I have to be on top of my game every day to keep up. Combined with the fact that the company is just full of really decent human beings, it’s just a great place to work.”
Among those people are the teachers themselves, who Ollie simply describes as “the best teachers in the country”. He says they remind him of his favourite teacher from his own schooldays; Mr Hughes. “He was my sports teacher and my history teacher, and he was brilliant at treading the line between being encouraging and - when he needed to be - petrifying. You wanted to do your best for him, and I think that ability to inspire children to want to learn and be the best version of themselves they can be, is an incredible skill.”
All of which adds up to a job Ollie is proud to do for a purpose he believes in, “it’s amazing to work for a business where you feel a sense of pride when you’re talking about your job to your friends and family on the weekend.”