Meet the founder

Hi, I’m Jenny Garbis. I thought I would take the liberty of introducing myself here, for SEO (and now GEO!) purposes, and to explain a little bit more about my connection to Mission Good.

I have always loved working. From a young age I was working in brand promotions and high-end retail outlets. As well as loving work, I have always been fascinated by entrepreneurship.

Being a founder seemed like a dream to me. To build something of your own, on your own terms with unlimited potential.

My idols were people like Richard Branson, Whitney Wolfe Herd and Sara Blakely.

I wanted to start a business young, but I had so many ideas and I found it hard to pick one idea and run with it.

At the age of 19 I decided to go to university to study Business Studies. I wanted a more practical course so I chose one that involved an industrial placement year.

After many applications, I managed to secure a prestigious placement at GSK at their HQ in London. This was honestly one of the best years of my life. I was working for an incredible mission-led business that was saving lives.

I worked for the Consumer Healthcare division, on million pound brand campaigns to promote products that make people better. During my time there I also participated in a charity team and raised £8000 for charity, a third of the total target set for 30 placement students.

I used my entrepreneurial rigour to create some sustainable charity events, most notably a skydive, which GSK still does today!

After that year I went back to my final year at university and chose the ‘Entrepreneurship’ pathway. I wrote a business plan and really enjoyed my final year. However I was very conscious of my entrepreneurial itch and I wanted to pursue this as soon as possible.

Having already done a placement year, a graduate scheme didn’t feel right to me. So I started investigating other programmes I could participate in to nurture this side of myself. I applied to Entrepreneurs First and on a whim on the day of the application deadline, BBC’s The Apprentice.

I never set out to work in TV, although it did fascinate me and I went to drama school as extra curricular, but I ended up being selected from 80,000 people to go on the show and try and win a £250,000 investment.

I am someone that wants to get the most out of life, so although I was nervous about leaving my final year at university to participate, I couldn’t live my life wondering “what if?” if I’d have turned it down.

So I accepted my place on the show, was under strict NDA and completed all of my exams and coursework in rapid time. With goodbyes to my course mates, I left university early to enter into one of the craziest experiences of my life.

This experience was 10 years ago and it feels like another life. It was fun and interesting and I met some amazing people. I opened a chocolate factory with Princess Anne, did speeches to hundreds of people and rode the ‘fame’ wave. Although I beat the odds to get the opportunity, I didn’t win the money and I had to decide what was next.

I was offered a variety of opportunities in TV and I turned them all down. I wanted to build businesses that mattered, and that hadn’t changed with that experience.

I decided to get a job at my very first startup, which I found through the job platform Escape the City. If you’re looking for a mission-driven role, it’s a great place to start!

To avoid this piece being too long, I will summarise by saying that building startups became my career. From being part of the early team, to networking with the VC ecosystem and venture building at a leading sustainability consultancy, I’ve loved learning what it takes to build a company.

Along the way, I’ve been part of a company that exited for $426M, seen how companies can fail, learned what can make the difference between failure, survival and ‘success’ and understood the psychological impact too.

My last full time role was working for a venture builder called Futerra Makes. Since completing my tenure with them, I founded Mission Good and have enjoyed a portfolio career, using the skills I have learned along the way to help founders and their businesses grow and scale.

Mission Good was founded because my mission never changed. I still want to make the world a better place through business and I love the work I do with inspiring, intelligent and passionate people.

If you are looking for help building your business, I’d love to talk.