For the last four years, Owen has been Director of the Aspire Foundation, an organisation which enables disadvantaged communities to deliver local services through social enterprise. Based in East London, the organisation runs business start-up courses, enabling disadvantaged individuals to turn their passion into thriving businesses.

Owen joined EMAP as a trainee journalist after studying at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. At weekends, he volunteered for a local night shelter and co-founded a football club with a group of homeless men. Learning that players struggled to find work and find housing, Owen co-founded a social enterprise Aspire East, a franchise of the pioneering fair-trade catalogue company Aspire. After undertaking the innovative community enterprise masters course at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, he became fascinated by the potential in sharing social business ideas and was recruited as Director of Social Franchising on a national DTI-funded programme with Community Action Network in London, supporting social enterprises to scale.