Anthropy Conference 2026
We joined Anthropy26 at the Eden Project, convening over 2,000 leaders to explore how businesses can drive opportunity, trust and inclusive growth across Britain.
Last month the Jobs Foundation had the privilege of joining Anthropy26 at the wonderful Eden Project as one of their partnering organisations. The conference was a gathering for change-makers uniting around the theme of inspiring a better Britain.
More than 2,000 leaders from across business, politics and civil society gathered in Cornwall for three days of conversation, collaboration and debate, addressing everything from economic growth and AI to soil health and farming.
The Jobs Foundation hosted several sessions over the three days with an eclectic group of speakers.
The first of these sessions – Unlocking Overlooked Talent: How business can lead Britain’s return to work – was hosted by our Chief Executive, Georgiana Bristol. We were joined by the collective wisdom of representatives of some of our Employer Taskforce members, including Adam Hawksbee from Marks & Spencer, Elizabeth Heath from Severn Trent, Louise Kingham from BP, Cadence Willis from the Collinson Group, and last but not least, Octavius Black CBE, Chair of the Jobs Foundation Employer Taskforce. This session explored how businesses can be leaders in bringing valuable opportunities to overlooked talent pools.
Our second session featured James Kanagasooriam from Focaldata and our President, Lord Elliott, talking about public perceptions of business and the economy. The discussion presented us with the chilling finding that 73% of the public do not trust business leaders, and that only 11% trust CEOs. As James said, there is a lot of noise in politics calling attention to small businesses, but there is a comparatively widespread silence in representation for medium and large businesses.
Alongside the Jobs Foundation events, our team were hard at work speaking at different events throughout the conference. Georgiana Bristol spoke on ‘Homes, Health & Hope’, talking about the hope brought through employment. Lord Elliott also spoke on unlocking skills through employment and on AI and employment, where he was joined by the likes of Christian May and Kamal Ahmed. Octavius Black CBE spoke on Work that Works – AI, automation and insecurity, hosted by the FT, and in a live debate on the efficacy of employee activism. John Cope, Advisor to the Jobs Foundation Pledge, spoke on the role business has to play in its relationship with the public and charity sectors.
Special thanks to John O’Brien MBE and the whole Anthropy team for putting on such a well-organised and thought-provoking conference. Needless to say, we left Cornwall with fuller notebooks, new connections, and an appreciation of the importance of continuing our work on solving our current worklessness crisis.
