Double Espresso With Dee: Change sessions

I am so happy today to have an incredible guest, Amani Kiflemariam. At an early age, she came from Ethiopia to the UK. She finished university to become a lawyer and spent years working in banking including ESG (environmental, social and governance strategy), before launching Amatte, a premium eco-friendly business.

I am beyond happy to welcome Veronica Chou, a businesswoman, an entrepreneur, an environmentalist, and my dear friend. She has seen every aspect and angle of the fashion industry. Today, she is the founder of Everybody & Everyone, an eco, innovative and sustainable fashion brand.

We have already reached the end of season one. I hope you've enjoyed hearing about the incredible journeys and stories of my guests, entrepreneurs of all ages and stages. In today's episode, I wanted to share some of my personal highlights which I hope you will love listening to.

I am excited to welcome my fabulous guest, Alice Ko, a businesswoman, an entrepreneur, and Strengths for Teams coach. She founded a remote digital marketing agency, Pivot six, and for the last 15 years, she was building businesses and working with teams around the globe.

Today I'm having a coffee with a beautiful, spectacular Nomshado Michelle Baca. Her great story starts in Zimbabwe and continues in London. She is a successful entrepreneur, founder of A Complexion company, where she developed botanical wellness products based on traditional African remedies

I am excited to welcome my friend Renna Brown-Taher, founder and creative director of Renna Jewels. She is a master of arts and gemologist based in NYC who decided to take an entrepreneurial leap and start her own business. Now she is taking over the world with her jewellery, featuring pages of many popular fashion magazines.

On the show today, we have spectacular Dr. David Jack, one of the new-generation medical doctors who have become pioneering health and wellness entrepreneurs. He pursued a clinical career in plastic surgery and aesthetic medicine worldwide before landing in London, where he runs his own clinic. In 2018, he launched Dr. David Skin Care based on the demand of clients. Along the way, he launched a number of other exciting businesses in the health and wellness space.

I am beyond excited to welcome Sahar Hashemi, my first entrepreneur guest who successfully built a coffee company. She started as a lawyer, but soon she and her brother founded the Coffee Republic, the first UK chain of coffee bars. After scaling and successfully selling it some years ago, she identified the new market segment - sugar-free sweets and founded Skinny Candy. 

 

She is a claimed author of two books - a bestseller "Anyone can do it" translated into multiple languages, and her latest "Startup forever." 

 

She is also a renowned speaker on international platforms, a multi-award winner including an OBE for services to the UK economy and to charity, and on the board of the Scale-up Institute.

 

Sahar shared a story about why and how she turned her love for coffee ritual into a successful coffee bar business. She remembers her first market research and a moment she found the gap that needs to be filled, but also how she learned that people hate new ideas until you make them tangible.

 

We reflect on the differences between building a startup and running a company as two completely different roles and how selling a fully grown business feels like. 

 

Sahar shared her thoughts about the process of writing a book about her entrepreneurial journey and then entering another one with Skinny Candy.

 

She believes women make amazing entrepreneurs because of their natural qualities: we are the perfect consumer, we are emotional about what we do, chatty, multitasking. All those qualities are actually qualities that make a great entrepreneur. This inspired her campaign "Buy Women Built" to support female entrepreneurs.

 

Sahar advises people with business ideas never to ask others for validation but try to make it happen. As you make it happen, you will figure out whether or not it's a great idea. 

 

Her advice to those women who fear starting their own business is just to go for it because women are obviously the answer, especially in this pandemic recovery time. They should have confidence and use their feminine power because the economy needs more women.

Key Takeaways:

 

• Introducing (00:30)
• About the idea of starting a coffee business (03:32)
• How did a lawyer decide to become an entrepreneur? (10:32)
• Are there things you would do differently now? (18:02)
• About book writing process (23:25)
• Going back for more: starting the Skinny Candy (25:49)
• The new venture is coming (29:13)
• Sahar tips on exposing an idea (33:33)
• What is shifting for women in business now after Covid? (37:44)
• What is the best piece of advice you've ever been given? (41:38)
• If you could have coffee with anyone, who would that be? (43:28)

 

Additional Resources:

 

Follow Sahar on Linkedin 

 

Learn more about the Coffee Republic 

Find Sahar's books 

Follow us on Instagram

Visit our website

I am very happy to introduce you to my guest today. It is spectacular Tamara Gillan. She is a serial entrepreneur, a warrior for female empowerment and equality, founder of two award-winning agencies (including Cherry London), and founder of The WealthiHer platform.

She is also a major change agent, award winner, a speaker - I would say an action girl. 

Tamara shared with us the genesis of The WealthiHer network. She accepted the challenge of women's economic empowerment, and the network was launched in a record time of just six months. They did massive research to find a deep understanding of gender economic differences, but also values, motivations, and needs behind women's financial decisions. 

We talked about female entrepreneurship, leadership, and managing female-dominant teams. We discuss how working from home affected our professional habits and what we can learn from the working environment during Covid. 

 

Key Takeaways:

Introducing Tamara (1:05)

About The WealthiHer network (3:20)

What happened after starting a movement like this? (8:11)

What have you learned from this experience? (13:02)

Challenge of remote-working women (18:19)

What are exciting focal points for your team right now? (21:25)

Tamara's life in partnerships (25:20)

How do you make a game plan? (27:12)

Beck to the time Tamara launched her first business (28:53)

What are the big things going on in your life today? (33:59)

How do you manage different aspects of your life? (36:09)

The piece of advice in the new world order (42:16)

If you could have a coffee with anyone, who would that be? (45:20)

Additional Resources:

 

Follow Tamara on Linkedin 

Learn more about Cherry London and The WealthiHer network

Follow us on Instagram

Visit our website

I am delighted to welcome amazing Mike Bandar, a serial entrepreneur, a founding partner of Turn Partners, the start-up studio focused on the acquisition, turnaround, or creation of digital businesses.

 

Mike is telling a story of his entrepreneurial journey, how he started from a young age(13) and developed and scaled multiple businesses. He is sharing what he learned during the way and how it helped him be more resilient. Mike is embracing the concept of staying in the learning zone and constantly improving.

He has received various awards and accolades including being awarded a British Empire Medal from the Queen of the United Kingdom for his coaching and training work within entrepreneurship and a Doctorate of Science (DSc) for his contribution to enterprise and entrepreneurship.

 

Through Turn Partners, Mike co-founded Hopper HQ the Instagram planning and scheduling tool, working with thousands of influencers, brands, and agencies around the world. He is also co-founder of the fast scaling platform Waybook, a tool for business owners and senior leaders to easily document their systems, processes, and know-how which become highly effective onboarding, training, and reference material for teams.

Key Takeaways:

• Introducing Mike Bandar (00:33)
• Where does your energy come from? (04:44)
• Are you born to be an entrepreneur? (07:00)
• Ground zero - The early wins are the best  (10:13)
• Mike’s view on being an entrepreneur - Is that something anyone can do it? (11:45)
• Exploring the model of co-founders in Mike’s businesses (15:26)
• Highs and lows in Toy Boy business - what were the outtakes? (18:40)
• The digital world - which direction consumers should take? (23:01)
• How are you safeguarding the privacy of your customers? (26:40)
• Importance of setting personal challenges (29:36)
• Finding your learning zone (33:50)
• Mike’s words to young people coming out of university or school in this peculiar time (36:04)
• What has been the best piece of advice you have ever been given? (39:16)
• If you could have coffee with anyone, who would that be? (40:33)

Additional Resources:

 

Follow Mike on Linkedin and visit his website

Learn more about Turn Partners

Follow us on Instagram

Visit our website