The Entrepreneurs

Having tired of mass-market eyewear, optician Jordan Paul founded Opticianado, a Toronto-based shop specialising in vintage specs sourced from across the globe.

Chris Stang is a co-founder of The Infatuation, a restaurant-discovery platform that has become the guide of choice for discerning diners across the US. Founded in 2009, the platform has just made headlines around the world by agreeing to acquire the Zagat brand from Google, which many will know for its respected drinking and dining guides. In this episode Stang tells us how he and co-founder Andrew Steinthal came up with the idea and how they have grown evolved it in a fast-moving and highly competitive market.

For lawyer-turned-designer Mark Johnson, the dream of launching a menswear brand was inspired by an anorak worn by his father in the 1960s. That ambition was realised in 2010 with the founding of Kovalum. While a modernised take on that very jacket remains an anchor of the brand’s product line, it has since expanded to include a collection of button downs, T-shirts and accessories – all manufactured in Toronto.

Matthew Corrin’s idea to create a brand around healthy eating has seen his business go from a single shop to one of the fastest-growing food franchises in the world. Corrin is the Canadian founder behind Freshii, a takeaway chain which aims to make healthy options affordable and convenient. Launched in 2005, Freshii now has more than 300 locations in 85 cities around the world. Matt Alagiah talks to Corrin about how he came up with the idea and how he has built the business into the global brand it is today.

Tala is a young British lighting brand with sustainability at its heart. Max Wood and Josh Ward, two of the three co-founders, explain why they decided to strike out on their own, talking us through how you build a successful design company.

Breathing new life into a brand can be a difficult undertaking. From changing a logo, to overhauling the business focus, rebranding can make or break established names and struggling enterprises. We ask Pentagram’s Paula Scher to give us her top tips for revamping a brand and have Maurus Fraser of Winkreative walk us through his favourite rebranding projects. We also talk to the duo who have reimagined British eyewear manufacturer Kirk Originals, and a Viennese entrepreneur who has rescued an obsolete watch brand.

One-time banker Eric Brass explains the origins of Tequila Tromba, the Toronto-based premium tequila brand he co-founded in 2011.

Romée de Goriainoff is one of the three co-founders of Experimental Group, the French hospitality brand that launched Paris’s first proper cocktail bar and is now the name behind restaurants, bars and even hotels the world over. But it all started with three school friends and a mutual desire to spend their lives doing something fun, unconventional and challenging. In this week's episode, Romée tells us how he created one of the world's coolest bar brands.

Dustin Kroft went from moving furniture to making and designing it in 2015, when he established his eponymous design studio in Toronto. He traces the journey of Kroft Furniture and his ambitions for the firm.

In 2010, James Eden gave up a job in finance to turn around a 100-year-old factory in Manchester. The result is Private White VC, a luxury menswear brand where everything is made in Britain. Eden tells us how Private White VC breathed new life into the factory – and the community.