Leadership series: Cemal Ezel

Meet the leaders shaping our industry in the Leadership Series, our in-depth conversations with the people behind some of the most interesting businesses around.

In this episode, Krishnan Doyle sits down with Cemal Ezel OBE, founder and CEO of Change Please and co-founder of The Old Spike Roastery. 

Change Please, run in partnership with The Big Issue, trains people experiencing homelessness as baristas and gives each of them a London Living Wage job, housing, a bank account and mental health support.

Cemal talks about what made him leave life as a commodity trader, the chance conversation on a bus that started it all, and how a not-for-profit grew into a £45 million business operating across multiple countries. 

He explains how the company’s structure as a CIC, charity and B Corp shapes the way it runs, why motivating staff looks different from a commercial organisation, and where the name Change Please came from.

They also discuss his open letter on homelessness, the personal stories that drive him, how he taught himself to run a global hospitality business, and how he won over partners like The Big Issue and Nespresso. 

Cemal shares the award that meant the most to him, his advice for anyone thinking of swapping a corporate career for a social enterprise, and his plans for Change Please over the next three years.