Women In Business

This week Piers Linney is joined by Ade Hassan – a founder whose business has set out to make fashion a more inclusive place. Born from the frustration of not being able to find lingerie and hosiery that matched her own skin tone, Ade Hassan started Nubian Skin in 2014, offering ‘nude’ colour options to cater for women of all shades. Ade shares the story of how the company launched with viral acclaim, winning fans including as Beyoncé ­– but as the company grows she also explains the challenges she faces on that journey.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Piers Linney meets Jonny Plein the co-founder of Pouch, a company helping people to cash in on discount codes through an automatic browser extension. He shares the highs and lows of building a digital business and describes the company’s financial journey through multiple funding rounds, failed investments, and even an appearance on Dragon’s Den.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Piers meets Alex Loizou, founder of Trouva, one of the UK’s top-five fastest growing tech companies. Trouva is an e-commerce platform for brick-and-mortar homeware and fashion boutiques and enables independent shops to sell their carefully curated products online, worldwide. Alex shares his journey from graduating as a software engineer to founding a tech company committed to protecting the future of the independent high street.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Piers meets Daniel Price, co-founder of My First Years, a company with a unique take on product personalisation that offers everything from personalised bathrobes to rocking chairs. My 1st Years became a household name when Prince George was photographed wearing one of the company’s bathrobes when the Windsors met The Obamas at Kensington Palace in 2016. Dan describes how his unique approach to gifting celebrities thrust the company into the limelight and shares his journey of seizing the opportunity to scale the business to achieving over a million online orders. Piers and Dan discuss the realities of scaling, using investment wisely and hiring the right people at the right time.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode Piers Linney meets Louise Leolin, the cofounder of games development studio DinoByte labs. Louise shares her story of being a young woman in a male dominated industry – and why she’s taken it upon herself to design video games that are representative of the diverse fans playing them. She also explains how she’s harnessed the power of her followers, through crowdfunding and user-feedback, to help shape the direction of their projects.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Piers Linney meets Alex Lovén, a businessman at the helm of one of the most successful sports equipment retailers in the UK. Alex shares how his ‘keep it simple’ approach has helped Net World Sports grow to a multi-million pound online business without the need of external investment. Plus they discuss how Net World Sports have developed their own product brands and innovations, to offer customers solutions they can’t find anywhere else.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Piers Linney is joined by Susie Ma, the founder of Tropic Skincare, who shares the story of how her business grew from a market stall to a multi-million partnership with investor Lord Sugar. Susie explains some of the hurdles she’s faced as a young woman in business, from staffing to fraud – plus the reasons why Tropic decided to avoid wholesale selling to shops in favour of recruiting a team of direct-selling ambassadors – empowering others to become entrepreneurial along the way.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Piers Linney meets Mark Selby, the cofounder of Mexican-inspired restaurant chain Wahaca. They discuss the company’s growth from a Soho basement to a thriving chain of over 25 locations – innovating with authentic flavours, clever marketing and a clear focus on people. Plus, Mark shares wisdom from harder times, explaining how Wahaca dealt with the backlash of a norovirus outbreak in 2016, that forced the restaurant to temporarily close its doors.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

CanO Water co-founder, Josh White, joins Piers Linney to explain how his company is tackling the plastic epidemic, by looking at the drinks industry from a new angle. They discuss balancing profits with purpose, and overcoming challenges with manufacturing and stockists. Josh also shares some of the tricks he’s used to publicise the brand in a crowed market.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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Over the past five episodes Mary has been joined by professionals from some of the UK’s leading companies to focus on themes including Security, Marketing, Exporting, Finance and HR – shining a light on the areas that businesses need to know about, and to act on, to succeed.In this bonus podcast, Mary presents a round-up of some of her favourite pieces of advice from the past few weeks – the key lessons and the learnings, as told by a host of brilliant guests.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, the spotlight is on HR – and joining Mary Portas is Chieu Cao. He's the co-founder and CMO of Perkbox – the UKs leading employee and customer engagement platform. Perkbox’s mantra is that employees happiness is the key to success.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, the spotlight is on Cashflow and Finance – and joining Mary Portas is Luke Johnstone, co-founder of Pack’d – the world’s first frozen smoothie kit company – which since being founded three years ago, has achieved rapid success and is now stocked in supermarkets such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s across the UK.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, the spotlight is on exporting and joining Mary Portas is Gurdeep Singh BathGurdeep is the Director of Exports at Perfection Foods - a family run business that supply hand made cakes to most UK national supermarkets and coffee shops and export to 21 markets across Europe and North Africa.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, the spotlight is on Marketing and joining Mary Portas is Nishma Robb, Marketing Director at Google.Nishma heads up perhaps the most powerful company in today’s marketing ecosystem, and is responsible for helping Google’s largest advertisers and agencies make the most of the web in the UK.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this first episode, the spotlight is on Cyber Security and joining Mary Portas is Carmina Lees, Managing Director of Financial Services across UK & Ireland at Accenture.Carmina leads on security in Accenture’s Financial Services practice, advising businesses on the key challenges and trends facing the industry.Carmina covers the threats facing SME businesses and the practical steps you can implement to protect yourself and your employees.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the final episode of the series we meet Sammy Andrews, a respected music industry exec, who has recently embarked on a new business journey as the founder of strategy/analytics company Deviate Digital. At three months in, she explains why she turned down the salary of a lifetime to run her own company, balancing risk and tackling gender equality in the industry along the way. She is also joined by Kanya King, the visionary founder of the MOBO awards, whose work over the past 20 years has left important mark on popular culture by championing music of black origin both in the UK and abroad. They share stories and advice on entering an industry where the odds seem stacked against you. Plus we hear from Yvonne Greeves (National Women in Business Manager at NatWest) who gives her top tips on ‘knowing your numbers' at every stage of your business growth.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

NatWest’s Heather Melville explains the importance of harnessing the diversity of your team and your clients – and the impact it can have on your business' bottom line.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week our featured woman in business is Carolyn Pearson, founder of Maiden Voyage – a female-friendly travel organisation that helps other companies ensure safe travel for their employees and enables women to connect whilst they’re on the road. Whilst Carolyn had previously held several high level positions at corporations, starting her own businesses was a whole new challenge. Here she is joined in conversation by serial entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox, whose success as a cofounder of LastMinute.com during the dotcom bubble rocketed her on to running many other businesses, charities and social enterprises – as well as holding a seat in the House of Lords. Together they talk about how to grow a business on an international stage, growing a community, and ‘the fear of selling’. Plus, we also hear from NatWest’s Head of Enterprise Julie Baker on the importance of role models at every stage of your career. To find out about how NatWest’s team can help you on your road to business success, just search ‘NatWest W

Emma Sexton, founder of visual design agency Make Your Words Work, shares five top tips she wish she’d known when she started her business – with thoughts on presentation, mindset and efficiency. To hear more from Emma, check out our previous episode in conversation with June Sarpong and Jyoti Matoo from Voir Fashion Magazine. And to find out about how NatWest’s team can help you on your road to business success, just search ‘NatWest Women In Business’.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.