The Budding Entrepreneur Club
The club was the centrepiece. Fortune described Forsyth in September 2016 as one of eighteen innovators under eighteen who were changing the world, and the venture it named was an invitation-only network for young entrepreneurs in Britain: a membership community rather than a product, built on the idea that founders under twenty need each other more than they need advice from anyone else.
Invitation-only is the operative phrase. The club's value was scarcity and curation, which is an unusual instinct in a teenager and a conventional one in the networks that adults build for themselves.
Three ventures at once
Entrepreneur magazine, writing a month earlier in August 2016, listed him among successful kid entrepreneurs keeping their eyes on the prize. By then he was also running Ollie's Shop, an online retail venture, and The Budding Entrepreneur Magazine, a publication attached to the club.
Three things at once, at 18, from a house in Northamptonshire: a retailer, a publisher and a members' network. None of the coverage gathered here gives revenue figures for any of them, which is the standard limitation of teenage-founder journalism. The stories document activity, not accounts.
Dyslexia, and how he described it
Forsyth is dyslexic, a fact he has discussed publicly and which the 2016 coverage records. It matters to the story because the ventures were writing-heavy: a magazine, a newsletter-driven club, and the correspondence that comes with running a members' network.
This page reports it exactly as the press did and goes no further. No diagnosis details, no schooling record and no claims about how his condition shaped his work appear in the sources, so none appear here.
Branson, and the reach of the story
Entrepreneur's 2016 piece records that Forsyth met Sir Richard Branson at a Virgin Unite conference. For a teenager running a club from Northamptonshire, that is the point at which the venture stops being a school project and starts being a network with access.
The Fortune listing did something similar at a larger scale. An 18 Under 18 slot in an American business magazine puts a British teenager in front of an audience his own ventures could not reach, which is how young founders convert coverage into membership.
What is documented and what is not
Documented: The Budding Entrepreneur Club as an invitation-only UK community for young entrepreneurs, Ollie's Shop, The Budding Entrepreneur Magazine, the Northamptonshire base, his dyslexia as publicly discussed, the meeting with Richard Branson at a Virgin Unite conference, and listings by Fortune and Entrepreneur in 2016.
Not documented here: his date of birth, revenue or membership numbers, whether the club still operates, and anything at all after 2016. The birth year on this page is an estimate from his reported age at the time of the Fortune list and should be treated as approximate.
| Person | Country | Milestone | Age / Stat |
|---|
What is documented — and what is not
✓ Documented
- Named on Fortune's 18 Under 18 list in September 2016
- Ran The Budding Entrepreneur Club, an invitation-only UK network for young founders
- Also ran Ollie's Shop and The Budding Entrepreneur Magazine from Northamptonshire
- Met Sir Richard Branson at a Virgin Unite conference (Entrepreneur, 2016)
? Unverified, disputed or wrong
- Date of birth is not published; the birth year here is approximate
- No revenue or membership figures for any of his ventures
- No documented activity after 2016
Questions people ask about Ollie Forsyth
How old is Ollie Forsyth?
He was reported as 18 in 2016, which puts his birth year at about 1998. No date of birth appears in these sources, so the figure is approximate.
What is The Budding Entrepreneur Club?
An invitation-only community for young entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom, which Forsyth ran at 18.
What else did Ollie Forsyth run?
Ollie's Shop, an online retail venture, and The Budding Entrepreneur Magazine.
Where is Ollie Forsyth from?
Northamptonshire, in England.
Did he meet Richard Branson?
Entrepreneur reported in 2016 that he met Sir Richard Branson at a Virgin Unite conference.
Is Ollie Forsyth on Wikipedia?
No Wikipedia article is recorded for him. The Fortune and Entrepreneur listings are the primary references.
Where is Ollie Forsyth now?
Nothing after 2016 is documented in the sources used here.
Quick quiz: how well do you know Ollie’s story?
What kind of network was The Budding Entrepreneur Club?
Which magazine listed him in its 18 Under 18 feature?
Whom did he meet at a Virgin Unite conference?
Sources
- 18 Under 18: Meet the Young Innovators Who Are Changing the World — Fortune, 2016-09-15
- 11 Successful Kid Entrepreneurs Keeping Their Eyes on the Prize — Entrepreneur, 2016-08-04
Checked by the Geniuses.club editorial team. Ages are given as of September 2026.
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