Enterprise Nation: The 99% Club – The Small Business Podcast

What if the pram, carrier, cot and breast pump you’ll use for a few months didn’t have to live in your loft forever?

In this episode of The 99% Club – The Small Business Podcast, Aaron meets Femke, founder of Merry-Go-Round Club, a fast-growing service that lets parents rent high-quality baby kit instead of buying it. Born from lived experience (two kids, lots of kit, limited space) and a sustainability mindset, the model extends product life, cuts waste and cost, and adds something parents crave at 3am: trust. 

Inside the episode:

• Why rental beats “buy, outgrow, store” for new parents (cost, clutter, carbon)
• The try-before-you-commit approach: carrier bundles and short-term breast-pump rentals
• Newborn essentials, simplified: a curated 6-month newborn bundle delivered up front
• From B2C to B2B benefits: partnerships and employer-subsidised bundles for new parents
• Building a bootstrapped logistics engine for multi-material products (cleaning, safety, storage)
• Cultural lessons from Hong Kong and Scandinavia on reuse and status – and how UK attitudes are shifting
• The “3am order” moment: solving real problems, right when parents need help

What happens when a people-first mortgage broker decides “good rates” aren’t enough – and sets out to change lives, industries and policy?

In this episode of The 99% Club – The Small Business Podcast, Aaron speaks with Michelle Niziol – founder of seven businesses, King’s Trust ambassador for Women Supporting Women, and creator of The Empowering Entrepreneur.

 Michelle shares how early hardship pushed her into work, property-investing at 18, and building a client-education model that’s retired customers early. She also explains her petition to make childcare a legitimate business expense for self-employed founders, and her wider views on rebuilding UK business confidence.

Inside the episode:

• From nearly homeless at 17 to first home at 18 – the origin of a problem-solving operator
• Why her mortgage practice is really a client education engine: equity, portfolios, and financial freedom
• The “give, give, give” growth loop – building a referral-only business by changing outcomes, not just rates
• The Empowering Entrepreneur: a passion project to boost women’s confidence, skills and momentum
• Policy talk: childcare as a business expense, funding gaps for women, and a call for a business-rates amnesty to revive high streets
• The lettings landscape: regulation good, NI on rental income risky, and why PRS still matters for mobility
• Culture over convenience: buying a premises post-Covid to build team cohesion and community

🎧 Listen on Spotify • Apple • YouTube

🌐 The Empowering Entrepreneur

👥 Enterprise Nation

Can a childhood love of jewellery, a mountaineering knot, and a £45 craft-fair table kickstart a brand?

In this episode of The 99% Club – The Small Business Podcast, Enterprise Nation’s Aaron Asadi talks with Paulomi Debnath, founder of Handmade by Tinni, the bold, biodegradable textile-jewellery brand turning rope-knot craft into statement pieces. 

Paulomi shares how she went from a sold-out stall in Kolkata as a teen to launching in London, why cotton cords and sustainability are non-negotiable, and how a move from B2C to B2B changed the trajectory of her business.

Inside the episode:

• The origin story – trekking knots meet colour, confidence and craft
• The £45 stand that returned £300 – and the proof of product it gave
• How press features and community collaborations compound visibility
• Moving from B2C into B2B – first wholesale orders, museum stockists, and realistic pacing for a handmade brand
• Positivity, persistence, and staying authentic when the economy bites

🎧 Listen on Spotify • Apple • YouTube

🌐 Handmade by Tinni

👥 Enterprise Nation

What does it take to plan a sabbatical that actually changes how you feel, not just where you are?

In this episode of The 99% Club – The Small Business Podcast, Enterprise Nation’s Aaron Asadi speaks with Steve Wilson, founder of Linger, a boutique travel company creating bespoke, experiential journeys for couples and families – with a special focus on sabbaticals.

Steve shares how he launched just before the pandemic, kept the vision alive, and then grew with the post-COVID rebound in travel. Drawing on 20+ years of global travel experience, he explains how Linger blends deep on-the-ground knowledge with a client-first process to design journeys that are as restorative as they are adventurous.

Inside the episode:

• Why sabbatical travel is growing, and how Linger designs it around contrast, pacing and downtime
• How to turn planning itself into part of the joy of the journey
• The behind-the-scenes scaffolding – from contingency planning to boutique family-friendly stays
• Building voluntourism into trips through short, ethical conservation projects
• The challenges of scaling a highly bespoke service and the IT and FX hurdles small businesses face

🎧 Listen on Spotify • Apple • YouTube

🌐 Linger

👥 Enterprise Nation

What if a beam of safe UVC light could do the job of antibiotics for infections?

In this episode of The 99% Club – The Small Business Podcast, Enterprise Nation’s Aaron Asadi talks with Dr Mark Leddy, CEO of Photon Therapeutics, about a handheld UVC device designed to treat eye infections without accelerating antimicrobial resistance.

Mark explains how a precise UVC wavelength disrupts bacteria, fungi and viruses at the corneal surface, why bugs develop resistance to antibiotics and even share resistance genes with other bugs, and how a startup with limited resources is rolling out devices to veterinary ophthalmology first while preparing the path to human clinical use.

Inside the episode:

• Why antibiotic resistance is rising and why “reserve” drugs are not the long term answer
• How targeted UVC can reduce or replace antibiotics in eye infections and why eyes are the ideal first use case
• Early real world results from veterinary clinics across multiple continents
• Recruiting A-players in a resource-constrained startup and shipping before “perfect”
• The surprising regulatory route that lets a tiny team get to market and iterate fast

🎧 Listen on Spotify • Apple • YouTube

🌐 Photon Therapeutics

👥 Enterprise Nation

In this episode of The 99% Club – The Small Business Podcast, Enterprise Nation’s Aaron Asadi speaks with Sarah Turner, founder of Little Beau Sheep, the business blending craft, sustainability and British farming.

From felted soaps and wool dryer balls to lanolin-rich skincare, Sarah has built a brand rooted in British wool – while also becoming an advocate for the industry itself.

In this conversation, Sarah shares:

•Why the British wool industry is under pressure, and what’s at stake if we don’t support it

•How a craft project at a children’s centre grew into an award-winning small business

•Why 100% British-made products need a Fairtrade-style movement of their own

•What it means to build a business that’s creative, ethical, and family-friendly

This is a story of sheep, soap, sustainability and the fight to keep British heritage alive.

🎧 Listen now on Spotify • Apple • YouTube

🐑 littlebeausheep.com

👥 enterprisenation.com

How do you keep steady when the professional and the personal collide?

In this episode of The 99% Club – The Small Business Podcast, Enterprise Nation’s Aaron Asadi sits down with Valerie Lothian, founder of Focusivity, a business dedicated to helping people and organisations bring clarity, calm and focus back into their working lives.

Valerie shares her deeply human approach to navigating business and life:

•Why coming together matters in a world that often pulls us apart

•How to find stable ground in uncertain times

•The “merging of the two” – when personal emotions meet professional pressures, and how to balance them

•Her journey to founding Focusivity and the lessons she brings from coaching and lived experience

This is a conversation about self-awareness, resilience, and the truth that business isn’t just numbers and plans – it’s people, with all the emotions and challenges that come with them.

🎧 Listen now on Spotify • Apple • YouTube

🌐 focusivity.co.uk

👥 enterprisenation.com

It started with someone dropping litter. It became a mission to replace single-use plastics worldwide.

In this episode of The 99% Club, Enterprise Nation’s Aaron Asadi speaks to Charlie, founder of The Pure Option, a business dedicated to creating compostable, plant-based food packaging to replace petroleum plastics.

What began in a Welsh garage as a personal quest to solve the problem of a discarded foam burger box has grown into an award-winning operation with international reach – despite government policies that sometimes make it harder to be sustainable.

•How a moment in a town centre sparked a 15-year journey of research and invention

•Why the UK went from world leader in compostable packaging to falling behind other nations

•The impact of losing 75% of staff and how AI helped run the business leaner than ever

•Why The Pure Option pays tax for not using plastic – and how they’ve innovated around it

•The resilience it takes to survive COVID, policy changes, and market shifts

This is a story about problem-solving, perseverance, and the belief that sustainability should be simple.

🎧 Listen now on Spotify • Apple • YouTube

🌱 thepureoption.com

👥 enterprisenation.com

“This isn’t a cottage industry. This is imagination, industry and impact.”

At 61, Lotty and her husband Andy didn’t retire quietly – they built a universe from scrap.

Literally.

In this episode of The 99% Club, Enterprise Nation’s Aaron Asadi meets Lotty of Weebert’s World, a growing brand of hand-built robot sculptures and children’s stories, all created from discarded objects and a wildly creative spirit.

Born from a difficult moment, the business is now a cross-generational, heart-led venture inspiring kids (and grown-ups) to imagine, create and care.

This conversation explores:

– Building a business from a garage with no prior experience

– Why digital detox starts with storytelling

– The dream of turning Weebert into a children’s TV star

– The frustrations of being excluded from funding as a rural business

– The power of family, legacy, and late-in-life creativity

– And why small businesses should be seen as more than “cottage industries”

From resin sheep to House of Lords appearances, this is a one-of-a-kind journey – and a love letter to making something from nothing.

🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube

📚 Explore Weebert’s World: weebertsworld.com/kids-zone

👥 Join the Enterprise Nation community: enterprisenation.com

In this raw and colourful conversation, Enterprise Nation’s CEO, Aaron Asadi, meets artist and founder Kathy Kyle. 

It started with burnout, grief, and a stained T-shirt. This is the story of Kathy, who left behind a 25-year career in PR and comms to launch her own wearable-art brand: Kathy Kyle Ltd.

It became a creative business built on joy, community, and painting at 4am.

In this episode:

– The emotional truth of starting over mid-career

– The importance of stories – and why some now live on scarves

– Why perfectionism is exhausting

– How Kathy weaves sustainability, identity and heritage into everything she creates

– The frustrating gap between female-led business potential and funding reality

This is a conversation about colour, courage, cassette tapes, and carving out a life that fits. If you’ve ever wondered if it’s too late to make a change – or whether your art could become your business – this one’s for you.

📚 Explore Kathy’s work: kathykyle.com

👥 Join the Enterprise Nation community: enterprisenation.com