The Entrepreneurs

For our final episode of the year, we look back at some of the most inspiring conversations we’ve had this year, unpacking everything from branding, growing a company, building a strong team, attracting investment and mentoring the next generation of business leaders. We hear from Debbie Wosskow, co-founder of The AllBright, Cal Henderson, co-founder and CTO of Slack, Alain Sylvain, founder and CEO of Sylvain Labs and menswear designer Kestin Hare.

Grenade is one of the fastest growing brands in the massive sports-nutrition market. The brand was started by Alan and Juliet Barratt, who created their first product in their home kitchen in 2009, later launching the company with just £27 in their business bank account. Grenade now has customers in more than 80 countries, with plans to expand further after a huge stake in the company was sold last year to Lion Capital for £72m.

In 1998, Stuart Holding restored two antique looms, which he used to create homeware textiles he then sold at his wife’s shop. Their children Tessa and Dax now help run Mungo Design and its three shops in South Africa.

After a successful career working in IT, Piotr Nahajski followed his passion into winemaking and, in 2013, launched Chalkdown Cider. Produced from apples grown in the Hampshire Downs, the sparkling cider is both uniquely English and a refreshing alternative to champagne and prosecco.

Karoli Hindriks is co-founder and CEO of Jobbatical, an employment network helping companies to build stronger and more diverse workforces by hiring talent from abroad. Well-known in her native Estonia as an inventor, media personality and successful entrepreneur, Hindriks set her sights on working with businesses and governments to move skilled workers across borders.

Claire Ptak opened Violet, her bakery in East London, in 2010 after moving to the UK from California five years earlier. She trained at Chez Panisse under renowned chef and restaurateur Alice Waters and, earlier this year, caught the eye of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who hired her to make a cake for their wedding.

Having spent a career building fashion brands, working in high-end tailoring on Savile Row, running factories and consulting with the country’s largest department stores, British fashion designer Patrick Grant wanted to start from scratch. He launched Community Clothing in 2016 with the aim of crafting affordable clothes for both men and women in a more sustainable way.

Hanna Naima McCloskey started Fearless Futures after leaving her job in finance, feeling there was something missing in the way the corporate world was addressing diversity and inclusion. McCloskey and her team now run training programmes to engage people in thinking critically about those issues.

While managing a Mayfair gallery, Bernadine Bröker Wieder was looking for better ways to connect with collectors. With Francesca Polo, she founded a global platform that allows art to be securely sourced and loaned to exhibitions.

Launched in March 2018, East London footwear brand Stepney Workers Club was inspired by the ethos and inclusive culture of workers’ sports clubs of years past. Bringing together a wealth of experience in designing footwear for luxury brands as well as working in wholesale and brand management, Roger Pereira, Simon See and Simon Bishop set out to create a new classic shoe and wardrobe staple: timeless canvas and suede footwear.