Dai Powell, former coal miner, volunteer bus cleaner and most recently Chief Executive of social enterprise and bus and minibus operator HCT Group, died in February. He was 68.
A proud Welshman, Mr Powell’s career began in mining, and a biography posted online notes that he held a Level 3 vocational certificate in the use of industrial explosives. He joined Hackney-based HCT first as a volunteer and became its Chief Executive in 1993.
In 2015, he noted that he stepped up to lead the then-charity because “I wanted to work for an organisation that was providing a lot of good, and I saw the opportunity for it to provide a lot more.”
That quickly led to a recognition of HCT needing to be turned into a social enterprise. After his death, Mr Powell was described as a “founding father” of such work by Social Enterprise UK Chief Executive Peter Holbrook.
Mr Powell was awarded an OBE in 2006 for services to disabled people. Between 2006 and 2014, he served as Chair of the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee.
Over many years of leading HCT Group, he came good on his original aspiration and grew it significantly from being a small community transport organisation to a national social enterprise. Mr Powell retired in 2020 and HCT ceased trading in 2022.
He was credited with significantly expanding HCT’s geographical reach in the UK. That took it into many areas outside the capital and the operation of bus services, including on behalf of Transport for London and as a contractor on the Bristol Metrobus network.
Revenue from those commercial undertakings was used to fund socially valuable transport services as well as provide training and work opportunities.
In 2015, Mr Powell was named UK Social Entrepreneur of the Year at the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. In collecting his honour, he said that the accolade was as much a testament to HCT Group’s employees, partners, social investors, communities, and other stakeholders.
When announcing his retirement in 2020, Mr Powell noted that he still believed then what he did 30 years earlier: “That by combining entrepreneurship with a deep commitment to the most marginalised in our society, it is possible to make a better world.”
After news of Mr Powell’s death broke, Social Enterprise UK described him as “a true social enterprise pioneer” and noted that he played an important role on the membership body’s board for six years and was involved in its governance until his death.
Mr Holbrook adds that Mr Powell “exemplified the values of social enterprise throughout his long career in the sector… He will be celebrated, remembered, and missed.”
