“Always striving to ensure that adversity does not hamper ambition and success, Ren is passionate about enabling individuals and communities to support themselves through enterprise & business.”
The late Lord Young of Graffham CH DL

Background and Motivations

Ren Kapur MBE has dedicated her career to creating opportunities that enable individuals and communities to support themselves through enterprise and business ownership. Ren channels her extensive experience and network to bring together Corporate, Charities, Government and local stakeholders’ agendas, concentrating on growth strategies and enabling sustainable organisations and ventures to build Central to this work is a commitment to supporting individuals to achieve their potential through informed career choices and enterprise.

Recognising that 1 in 7 people are self-employed at some point in their career, Ren believes enterprise learning is an important agenda and critical life skill which should be taught at an early age. these skills are valuable whether you are employed or self-employed.

Ren has had the privilege of being a business owner since the age of 18 and has operated various businesses, ranging from start-up to investing in growing concerns. Across all these ventures, her focus has remained on community impact, and this is something, although unknown to Ren at the age 18, that has been at the heart of her decision making . Some of these ventures have been more successful than others, but as the adage goes, it’s what you do with challenges that allows you to grow and prosper.

Present Ventures

Ren’s current business ventures include Enterprise For Life®, X-Forces Enterprise, X-Emergency Services and Soldiering On Awards. In all of the cases is a shared theme: enterprise and business, education and learning.

Ren was first formally appointed to champion Enterprise Learning by the Secretary of State for Education in 2009, as the National Champion for Business, Admin and Finance. This led her to collaborate with the FTSE 500 to establish a highly successful task force, aligning education with the private sector to enable young people to prosper.

X-Forces Enterprise (XFE) supports members of the Armed Forces community to understand what it is like to own a start-up business. Since 2013, XFE has supported thousands of business ventures launched by veterans through training, funding and ongoing support.

A flagship event in the calendar is the Soldiering On Awards (SOA), which recognises the outstanding achievements of those who have served our country – the diverse people and groups who work together in support of the Armed Forces Community. SOA aims to encourage support for this remarkable community by celebrating the achievements of the people, teams, and businesses within it.

X-Emergency Services (XES) offers enterprise and business knowledge to the emergency services The key distinction between XFE and XES is that they also provide career transition support, tailored assistance which provides a crucial foundation for individuals starting new chapters in their professional journeys

Ren’s current portfolio includes, and in no particular order – Army Reservist; Federation of Small Business Policy; All Party Parliamentarian Group Women and Enterprise lead for Education and Skills; Visiting Professor of Anglian Ruskin University; PPL Senior Advisor; incoming Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Glovers of London. Updated January 2025. Find out more about all of Ren’s ventures here.

Highlights

Among Ren’s many accolades, she is particularly proud of being awarded an MBE for services to Entrepreneurship in 2016 during the Queen’s 90th Birthday Honours. Ren was honoured and privileged to meet the late Queen Elizabeth II at her home in Windsor.

Charity work and volunteering have been integral to Ren’s life since the early 2000s – a commitment which has continued throughout the last two decades.

Read More

Discover more about Ren’s recent activities by exploring the Blog page and following her journey.