Josh Littlejohn

Josh Littlejohn MBE is a social entrepreneur, philanthropist and homeless campaigner who founded charities the Social Bite and the World’s Big Sleep Out.

Josh Littlejohn MBE
Born (1986-09-16) 16 September 1986
CitizenshipBritish
Alma materEdinburgh University
OccupationPhilanthropist and homeless campaigner

Early life and education

Josh Littlejohn was born on 16 September 1986 in Edinburgh, United Kingdom. He has an honours degree in Politics and Economics from Edinburgh University..[1]

Career

In August 2012 Littlejohn and Alice Thompson co-founded the Social Bite, a small chain of sandwich shops that donates its profits to social causes.[2][3]

Littlejohn built a Social Bite Village from reclaimed wasteland in Edinburgh to provide shelter and support for up to 20 homeless people.[4] He also launched a programme called Housing First, asking landlords to pledge accommodation. The scheme received £6.5million funding from the Scottish Government and aims to house 830 people by April 2021.[5]

In December 2019, Littlejohn launched the World’s Big Sleep Out,[6] which took place in 52 cities including London, New York, Delhi and Hong Kong.[7] In 2016, he co-founded a social enterprise beer company called Brewgooder, where the profits go towards providing clean water.[8] The brewery set out an aim of providing clean drinking water for one million people in five years.[9]

He has appeared on the One Show[10] and BBC Breakfast.[11] Newspaper interviews include The New York Times,[12] The Guardian[13] and The Times.[14]

Recognition

In 2017, Littlejohn was given an MBE in the New Years Honours list.[15][7] He has received an honorary Doctor of Science in Social Science from the University of Edinburgh [1] and honorary doctorates from Robert Gordon University ,[16] Edinburgh Napier University,[17] and Queen Margaret University[18]

He was included in the Debrett’s list of 500 most influential people in the UK 2017.[19]

Littlejohn and Alice Thompson collected the Pride of Britain Special Recognition award in 2019.[20][21]

In 2020, he won the Robert Burns Humanitarian Award for helping helpless people.[22][23]

References

  1. "Sleepout events to help tackle homelessness". The University of Edinburgh.
  2. "What is Social Business?". Social Bite.
  3. "Top Scots sleep out for homeless charity". BBC News. 16 December 2016.
  4. "The Social Bite Village". Social Bite.
  5. West, Jean. "Big Sleep Out creator Josh Littlejohn's wake up call on B&Bs". The Times.
  6. "The World's Big Sleep Out". Official website.
  7. "Social Bite founder Josh Littlejohn dedicates MBE to people 'marginalised' from society". The Independent. 30 December 2016.
  8. "Brewgooder has good cause to cheer Asda extension". The Scotsman.
  9. "Saturday Interview: Beer firm making good on clean water pledge, entrepreneur Mahon declares". The Herald (Glasgow).
  10. "World's Big Sleepout on The One Show". The One Show.
  11. "Josh Littlejohn on BBC breakfast talking "Housing First"". BBC Breakfast. 4 January 2020.
  12. Salcedo, Andrea; Stewart, Nikita (7 December 2019). "Hundreds Spend the Night in Sleeping Bags on Times Square". The New York Times.
  13. Lewis, Tim (9 April 2017). "Social entrepreneur Josh Littlejohn: 'I want to build a utopia for the homeless'". The Observer.
  14. West, Jean. "World's Big Sleep Out will help us wake up to plight of the homeless, says Josh Littlejohn". The Times.
  15. "Social Bite founder Josh Littlejohn awarded MBE". Scottish Housing News.
  16. "Social entrepreneur's work recognised at RGU graduation ceremony | December 2018 | News | RGU". Robert Gordon University.
  17. "Moredun's Julie Fitzpatrick receives Honorary Doctorate of Science from Edinburgh Napier University". www.ukspa.org.uk.
  18. Masterson, Victoria (6 July 2018). "Honorary degree for Social Bite entrepreneur". Insider.co.uk.
  19. "Debrett's 500 List: Food & Drink". The Daily Telegraph. 20 January 2017.
  20. "JOSH LITTLEJOHN AND ALICE THOMPSON". Pride of Britain Awards.
  21. "Interview: Josh Littlejohn". The Scotsman.
  22. "Champion for the homeless wins Burns Humanitarian Award". Scottish Legal News.
  23. "Burns Award for Josh Littlejohn". Third Force News.
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