MAHDLO’S first business breakfast of 2025 promises to be ‘insightful and inspiring’ as Richard Walker OBE, Executive Chairman of Iceland Foods, is guest speaker.
Mr Walker, who is also chairman of the firm’s charitable foundation, will take centre stage at the event on Thursday, May 29 at Mahdlo Youth Zone on Sir Norman Stoller Way in Oldham town centre.
A qualified chartered surveyor, Mr Walker joined Iceland Foods, the company founded by his parents Malcolm and Rhianydd in 1970, in 2012 after developing his own successful property businesses, Bywater Properties, in Poland and the UK.
He then spent a year as a shelf-stacker and cashier before becoming an Iceland store manager and then moving to head office in North Wales, where he took up the role of Managing Director in 2018.
He became Executive Chairman in January 2023, with responsibility for Iceland’s people, property, customers and sustainability.
A committed environmentalist, Mr Walker has led all Iceland’s sustainability initiatives including the removal of palm oil from the company’s own label range and its pledge to eliminate plastic packaging from the Iceland own label range.
He has published the full plastic footprint of the business and pledged to achieve net zero carbon in its operations by 2040.
Mahdlo Youth Zone CEO, Lucy Lees, said: “We are delighted Richard has agreed to join us at our business breakfast.
“His extensive business knowledge and acumen, commitment to the environment and support for charities at home and abroad, make him an ideal speaker to share his thoughts and methods with the borough’s business community and the people operating in it. It promises to be an insightful and inspirational morning.”
Bywater Properties, of which Mr Walker is also chairman, is currently part of a £1bn joint venture with Sumitomo Forestry to drive the adoption of low carbon property development and refurbishment across Europe.
In 2023, in his role as Chairman of the Iceland Foods Charitable Foundation, he completed an ascent of Mount Everest with the famous climber Kenton Cool, which raised £1m to help fund the creation of the world’s first Rare Dementia Support Centre.
He was appointed OBE for his services to business and the environment in the late Queen’s final Birthday Honours list in 2022.
He was a member of the former Prime Minister’s Business Council and is a regular panellist on shows such as BBC1’s Question Time and BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions. His first book, The Green Grocer, was published in 2021.
Tickets for the business breakfast cost £9.50 per person, including breakfast and refreshments, and can be booked online here.
All proceeds go to Mahdlo’s work with young people across the borough aged eight to 19 years, and up to 25 for those with a disability.
Mahdlo’s mission is to provide opportunities for young people to be the very best they can be through a huge range of activities and support services at its town centre base and via sessions spread across the whole borough.
Last year it raised more than £1.6 million to support its funding and is aiming for £1.9 million this year as it aspires to reach approximately 4,000 young people.