Warren Handley

Warren Handley

Hello there! Born in South Africa and now living in the UK, I am an ambitious and positive person on a journey of growth. As a passionate product manager, I have a deep love for using technology as a powerful tool to solve real-world problems. I have an entrepreneurial spirit and am always on the look-out to learn through projects. One of my biggest sources of inspiration comes from my love for running. The sensation of pushing my limits, the rhythm of each stride, and the incremental daily efforts that no one sees that it takes to cross the finish line - all these elements mirror the way I approach life. I believe in setting ambitious goals and pursuing them with consistent determination. Join me as I share a few of my projects, thoughts, side-hustles, a couple podcasts and that one time I walked 6000km from Tanzania to South Africa. Please get in touch if you would like to chat!

My Projects

Accountability App

During my time in the Oxford MBA, my best friend from back home and I stayed in contact through a Monday morning 'goal check'. We would send each other our top three things that we wanted to accomplish that week. The result? It kept us accountable and kept us in touch with what was important in each other's lives. I was lucky enough to find friends in the MBA who loved goal-setting as much as I do. And so, we created an accountability club. A google sheet with a weekly tracker of items building towards bigger picture goals. Instead of a google sheet, I have decided to give my first no code project a go and replicate our experience in the form of an app. Still in progress, but getting a little closer each week (because it's on the tracker, of course).

Art School Africa

This is one of my favourites. I've had the privilege of working with distinguished art professional (and dear friend), Julia Buchanan, in co-creating our NPO Art School Africa. We are on a mission to empower aspiring art professionals on the African continent by providing them with the necessary knowledge and access to pursue a career in the arts. In collaboration with Harvard's Centre for African Studies, we have annual interns assist us in creating a research report to understand the African art landscape.

https://artschoolafrica.com/

Beta Balance (Founder)

During the Covid-19 lockdown I founded Beta Balance and sold it a year later as a profitable business. Inspired by my longing for a lockdown surf and finding an alternative to satisfy this craving, this journey taught me an immense amount about the product lifecycle and what it means to be a small business. Helpful considering I was building an app for small businesses at the time. Read more about this one or listen to a podcast I did here:

To understand small business, be a small businessTalks with Jamie: Learning with skin in the game (podcast)

Tech Oxford Business Network

In my time during the Oxford MBA I had the privilege of co-chairing the Tech OBN. Throughout the year we hosted events, engaged industry professionals, held panel discussions and organised company visits. This included a blockchain breakfast, an event themed 'The Future of Tech' with keynote speakers from Google, Microsoft and AWS, and a dinner at the prestigious Oxford Cambridge Club in London, allowing our classmates interested in tech to engage with professionals from leading tech companies. Our goal was always to highlight the relevance of tech, making learnings from the industry accessible to all in our cohort.

Walk With Us

In 2017, Tom David and I summited the highest mountain in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro, and walked 6000km through six countries back to Johannesburg, South Africa. We completed this journey living on the food poverty line of $2/day in an effort to raise funds and awareness for orphaned and vulnerable children. Walking rough 40km per day, we walked through Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa, stopping in major cities to host workshops where we taught caregivers and primary school teachers how to make toys and learning resources from reusable waste.This journey was a pivotal point in my life. It taught me how to overcome challenges, one step at a time. It took me to the depths of my being and showed me what I'm capable of. And it it left in me a responsibility ingrained to be conscious in contributing to society. It is for that reason that I measure my success by the impact I make.

The Book

If you would like to know what we ate, where we slept, what we learned or if you want to read about the time I got typhoid while still three days away from our closest hospital, you can do so in our book. In 2018 we published 'Walk With Us: A Gripping African Adventure'.

"This book restored some of my faith in humanity and will make me think about some of the unconscious bias I live with every day. Grab the box of tissues for the flood at the end." - Kelli, Goodreads

Check out our Book review

The Talks

Our journey was inspired by a talk I heard at just sixteen years old from Thabang Skwambane. Understanding how powerful stories can be, we feel the responsibility to tell ours in the hope that we too can inspire people to be more conscious in contributing to society and can understand what they are capable of. Our talks are often centered around overcoming challenges one step at a time. Over the years we have done a number of talks at various schools and companies, including brands such as Twitter and Spotify. Please get in touch if you would like us to come and speak!

Email: warren.tfdmanagement@gmail.com

My London Marathon

I've always loved running. Since I was a teenager, I've seen it as a way to push myself, clear my head and explore. When I was accepted to the Oxford MBA, I knew that I would want to engage with the sporting community and find a goal to work towards. At Oxford there is a prestigious award given to high performing athletes called an Oxford 'Blue'. Knowing this, I went through the list of sports eligible for the award and decided running was my best bet. The minor detail was that in order to qualify, one had to run a 2h45 London Marathon. With about a year to train, I figured there was only one way to find out if I was capable. I used my last few months in Cape Town to train with a good friend who is a pro athlete and coach. Over months of hard work, I watched my times start to improve. Before I knew it, I was running 8 times a week equalling roughly 120km. It was time on tar, time in my head and many an early morning starting with stiff legs and sore joints. Coming over to Oxford, I had underestimated the demands of an MBA. With a packed schedule, the only time I had was in the mornings and so as winter grew nearer, I found myself day in and day out on the road in sometimes negative degree weather and finishing my runs before the sun was up. It was brutal but I loved it. I knew that each day I laced up and got out the door was one step closer to achieving my goal. When the day arrived, I lined up at the start line with new friends from the Oxford running community who were just as crazy and committed. As I set off, the adrenaline kicked in and I had to adjust to try stay in control. I watched the kms tick by at 3:49/km - even faster than what I anticipated I needed to do. Tower Bridge at the halfway mark hit me with a wave of emotion as I heard the cheers and saw the faces of my dear friends in the crowd. Thinking I was on top of it with my goal in the bag, my energy started to wane. No matter how hard I fought, when I got to the last few kms I knew I was falling behind. I took a second and said to myself "remember this moment because when you've recovered you're going to say you should have gone harder - you're giving it everything you can". I crossed the finish line in 2:45:43. I missed it by 43 seconds. I went through the race in my head over and over again to try find those 43 seconds but I actually couldn't. Despite the disappointment I was proud of my effort. It was the journey in the pursuit of the goal that really mattered most.