Meet The Team
Oluwatosin Shittu
Founder, CEO & Executive Manager
The centre of my background is PLAY. I started in 2002 working nationally with a group of artists in Italy and I worked with various sectors involving education, play, language interpreting and intercultural with children, young people, youth and adults. From 2008 to 2014 I worked with Pianeta Verde, designing and making wooden games and mechanical games. Awareness of the environmental issue has always been a core part of my work experiences, as a practice I always consider recycling materials when designing and making wooden games and evaluating the impact of what I do. Thanks to this habit I set up Play Wooden in 2017 as an environmentally friendly social enterprise that aims to nurture curiosity and experimental exploration back into our society through play. That also inspires effective learning from esoteric games from all around the world. In Bristol City I play an active role in advocating for qualitative play opportunities for children, young people and youth, and encourage youth leadership. I also advocate for the safeguarding of our green space in the city and advocate for families to be the leading voice about the green space in their community and use it.
Manruf Chanfi
Director
A PGCE Qualified Teacher. Teacher of Modern Languages – French and Spanish 1 to 1 tuition in numeracy and literacy for Key Stage 2, Key 3 Maths and Science. I advise Play Wooden on how best to target schools and on writing play programmes for students.
Stephen Ocquaye
Management Consultant
A commercially focused Corporate Services, Strategic and Change Management professional, with extensive experience in both the public, profit and not-for-profit sectors spanning across healthcare, education, corporate and management consulting. Skilled at strategically driving change management and transformation initiatives to achieve operational efficiency, stakeholder buy-in and employee engagement. Leverages expertise to develop logical and innovative initiatives and recommend technological solutions for complex, business-critical issues. Delivers actionable analysis and insight to evolve service offerings. Successfully identifies, establishes and promotes collaborative relationships to realise and share assets, strengths and strategic development. Leverages advanced communication skills to engage with the board of trustees and stakeholders, assimilate and translate requirements into actionable solutions. A strategic and transparent leader, consistently recognised for empowering, developing and inspiring individuals, achieving high engagement and productivity.
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Natasha Richardson
Marketing Volunteer
My name’s Natasha, and I volunteer as a Marketing Assistant at PlayWooden! I come from a marketing background and studied Media and Communications at University. To me, Play Wooden provides the opportunity for people to have fun and play and is helping to get rid of the idea that play is only for kids. As an environmentally conscious person, it’s wonderful to be a part of an organisation that cares about creating sustainable and eco-friendly puzzles and games for everyone to enjoy.
