Our story
Easol’s journey began in 2020 , when our Founding Director Mike Oliver , after nearly five whole decades of existence, promptly decided that he had discovered exactly what made him tick.
“Whenever I try to find the common denominator between the projects I’ve loved and enjoyed, it always comes back to the same two things; interesting ideas and amazing people.” - Mike Oliver, probably.
If that sounds a little too simple for a company vision, that’s because it probably is - but it’s true. At Easol’s core, we love working on interesting projects with amazing people, and have been fortunate enough to have had constant encounters with both since our inception as a sector-agnostic consultancy.
Mike Oliver
Trailblazer
Founder, director and team member, Mike has accumulated a wealth of experience working across multiple sectors in the fields of innovation, product development, operational and policy defence, data analytics, predictive modelling, business development and more. He has made it his personal mission to empower and positively transform anyone he works with.
Matt Collins
Tech Jedi
Matt is a seasoned entrepreneur and innovation leader. With 25+ years of experience in software development, product management, and business strategy, he’s built and scaled companies and led game-changing tech projects. Whether developing AI-driven solutions, automating operations, or bridging the gap between tech and business, Matt thrives on making the impossible possible—without needing to use the Force (most of the time).
Rose-Sharon Chin
Innovation Weaver
Rose-Sharon specialises in connecting the threads between the technical and non-technical to weave a tapestry of user-centred design. With an MSc in Innovation and Entrepreneurship (University of Bristol) and a history of work in gamification, consulting, design thinking and entrepreneurship, Rose-Sharon brings to Easol and our partners a modern perspective and an empathetic approach to innovation.
Daria Shcherbak
Design Alchemist
Through the focused exploration into user needs and motivations, careful study of design principles and experimentation driven by creative inspiration, Daria transforms abstract concepts and requirements into beautiful designs. Leveraging her experiences and skills in UI/UX design, branding, and visual design, she supports Easol and our partners in creating visuals that and experiences that resonate with the audience.
Yong June Hong
Innovation Tinkerer
Constantly filled with curiosity, Yong June can usually be found building, testing and experimenting. He brings this investigative experimenter’s mindset and research experience in developing innovative solutions that meets the needs of both Easol and our partners. When Yong June is not tinkering, he is optimising workflows and ensuring that the projects run like a well-oiled machine.
Ash Fairhurst
Master of Chaos
Ash has a history in logistics management and people development and has managed multiple teams and hundreds of individuals at once; she puts every bit of that experience to good use managing us over here at Easol. Flexible, reliable and detail-oriented, Ash is frighteningly competent at getting Easol’s paperwork and finances straightened out and keeping everyone organised and on-the-ball.
Our expertise
We’ve worked with several governments and UN organisations to make a real impact on lives. We’ve helped MNCs break out successfully into new endeavours, and assisted researchers and start-ups with brilliant ideas that could genuinely change the world. We’ve met some incredible people and witnessed them make some of the hardest decisions in the most challenging circumstances; activists fighting for human rights, military personnel in life-and-death situations, policemen and victims affected by the darker side of society, overworked medical personnel that deal directly with human lives, engineers that work to progress society and more. Each of them face unique challenges and pressure, and it is astounding just how creative, ambitious, heroic and driven people can be when they rise to the occasion - even the ones you’d least expect.
If there’s one thing we’ve taken away from this, it’s that anyone can become an entrepreneur and make a difference, no matter what stage of their life they’re in. They only need to take the first step to journey into the exciting world of entrepreneurship.
As for Easol, we’re still growing, but we’ve accumulated quite a bit of experience and some wise friends along our travels, and we’ve made it our mission to partner up and lend a helping hand to those who might need what we can offer. That’s where we believe our journey truly is - by the side of amazing entrepreneurs on their interesting, one-of-a-kind journey, wherever they may be and wherever they are going.
Since you’re probably pretty amazing yourself and reading this, it seems we’re at a crossroads. If that’s the case, why not walk with us for a while?
“We’re all each on our own unique entrepreneurial journey, but since we’ve met at a crossroads, why not walk with us for a bit?”
- Also Mike Oliver, probably.