The Entrepreneurs

Presented by Monocle’s Daniel Giacopelli, ‘Eureka’ is a weekly spotlight on business origins brought to you by the team behind ‘The Entrepreneurs’. In this episode, entrepreneur Paddy Dickinson shares her journey from Missouri to New York, from helping to launch MTV Europe and MTV Australia in the 1980s to creating her jewellery brand Totem Adornments this month.

In our adrenaline-fuelled world of billion-dollar unicorns and big exits, it’s easy to forget about the little guy. This week’s episode is all about the small and the slow – the advantages of David over Goliath; the tortoise over the hare. ‘Small is Beautiful’, a conference held in Edinburgh last week, explored the ways in which we can give inspiration and ideas to the world’s micro-enterprises, solopreneurs and creative freelancers. We hear from the event’s producer Roanne Dods and journalists Alexa Clay, author of ‘The Misfit Economy’, and Carl Honoré, author of ‘In Praise of Slowness’.

Perfume designer Kilian Hennessy reflects on his rise within the fragrance industry and shares business lessons from his cognac-famous grandfather, co-founder of the world's largest luxury goods group: LVMH. Presented by Daniel Giacopelli, ‘Eureka’ is a weekly spotlight on business origins brought to you by the team behind ‘The Entrepreneurs’.

What’s the purpose of a business? What are its responsibilities to customers, employees and communities? We examine outdoor-clothing brand Patagonia as Rick Ridgeway climbs down a mountain to explain why sustainability is at the forefront of its massive growth. Meanwhile, innovation think-tank Nesta and the Startup Europe Partnership have ranked the best big corporations for collaborating with start-ups. We explore their findings with Nesta’s Chris Haley, Cisco’s Tom Yoritaka and Irene Graham from the Scale-Up Institute.

In the debut episode of ‘Eureka’ influential tailor, menswear designer and entrepreneur Timothy Everest recalls the early inspirations, formative experiences, colourful characters and well-heeled advice that led him to launch his business. Presented by Monocle’s Daniel Giacopelli, ‘Eureka’ is a weekly feature brought to you by the team behind ‘The Entrepreneurs’.

Tucked in a narrow alleyway in Jerusalem is the city’s oldest tattoo shop, a family-run firm that’s been inking everyone from bikers to priests and pilgrims for hundreds of years. We meet the latest in a long line of family members to take on the business. Plus: we talk social entrepreneurship with the founder of Livoos, a new online luxury store that donates 50 per cent of its revenue to charity, and the founder of WeFarm, an innovative knowledge-sharing service for the world’s 500 million small-scale farmers.

We meet an ex-London banker who’s launched shoe company Sons of London to test out the direct-to-consumer business model. In San Francisco, Azhar Hashem, an ex-marketing executive at Google is creating a restaurant focused on Eastern Mediterranean cuisine – we discuss the transition in the run-up to the opening of Tawla SF. Then we head to Romania to ask why its health-food industry has not taken off in a big way. We’re in Bucharest to meet the entrepreneurs trying to make it happen.

How do you successfully reinvent a popular brand? Tony Conrad and Jeff Veen of Silicon Valley-based venture-capital firm True Ventures sit down with Daniel Giacopelli to discuss tips learned from growing, selling and then re-launching About.me. Plus: they explain why design is key and share tips for building a business that lasts.

Pippa Murray is a London-based marathoner who made delicious nut butter to fuel her runs. She tells us why she quit her day job to turn her passion into booming business Pip & Nut – and why it involved living in a shed for three months. Meanwhile in Tunisia, two friends have invented a radical clean-energy device that’s named after an ancient Carthaginian god and looks like a dancing rice bowl. Our correspondent in Tunis puts on her windbreaker to tell the story of Saphon Energy. Plus: sweatpants and sneakers worn far from the track and field: we break down the fashion of fitness and the branding of ‘athleisure’ with Raphael Güller from Winkreative.

Along with oxygen, water and shelter, healthy food is one of the bare necessities of life. So why is the modern food supply chain so broken – and how can we fix it? London start-up FarmDrop has a solution. Meanwhile, the owners of Earl of East London explain the nuts and bolts of growing a successful lifestyle brand and two design partners from Google Ventures outline their five-day ‘Sprint’ method for solving big business problems and testing new ideas.