The Standard

Debbie Wosskow OBE is a business leader on a mission to support more female entrepreneurs.

The founder of Love Home Swap, which she sold for around £40 million, has been working hard on her Allbright community, providing help to women trying to get ahead in their field.

In this show, she reveals the shockingly low amount of capital investment given to women, the barriers some face when trying to start-up a company, and gives her own advice to budding CEOs.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More than 1.7 people have been displaced from their homes in Ukraine since Russia invaded - that’s the equivalent of emptying London’s five biggest boroughs.

We’re joined by Dr Agnieszka Kubal, a sociology lecturer and a migration law expert at UCL’s School of Slavonic and East European Studies, whose mother is also among Polish households opening their family homes to help refugees.

Dr Kubal examines UK government strategy to cope with the growing humanitarianism crisis, and whether enough is being done to stop the most vulnerable refugees from falling prey to people traffickers.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Des Gunewardena teamed up with Sir Terence Conran to open up a restaurant in London, people told them they were “totally, totally stupid”. What does a “finance guy and a designer” know about the hospitality trade?

Today, the company that evolved from that partnership, D and D restaurants, operates more than 40 establishments in London, Paris and New York.

In this episode, Des tells us they set up a restaurant because Terence was fed up with France having better ones than Britain, and how they became so popular he read one woman had to change her own kitchen décor because someone said “it looked like a Conran restaurant, and she was very upset”.

He also reveals his top tips for business, including advice for people venturing into the restaurant trade following two years of turmoil thanks to the coronavirus pandemic... and what he thinks of the UK government’s support for hospitality. 

You can hear the full interview over on our An Invitation to Meet... channel HERE.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Russia has taken over another nuclear facility in Ukraine, after shelling the site on Thursday night.

The attack of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been condemned worldwide, with reports that the attack continued even as emergency services tried to put out the resulting fire.

In response, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Authority Rafael Grossi, is planning to travel to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone to negotiate with the Ukrainians and the Russians to uphold the principles of nuclear safety.

Malcolm Grimston, a Senior Research Fellow at Imperial College London’s Centre for Energy Policy and Technology discusses the risk associated with Russia's attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and why they have taken over the site.

You can find our Ukraine fundraiser here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As Russia continues to be hit with economic sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine, the world’s top tech firms are also taking action to try to end the conflict.

Apple has blocked its contactless payment system in Russia, Google has disabled its map traffic data in Ukraine to protect citizens, and Facebook owner Meta has set up a special team to tackle misinformation on social media.

But what impact will these actions have? And how much responsibility falls on tech firms to act during international conflicts?

Senior tech reporter at Insider Isobel Hamilton discusses the actions being taken, what more tech firms can do, and what might happen next.

You can find our Ukraine fundraiser here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As war rages on in Ukraine, the civilian death toll in the country has reportedly reached more than 2,000.

On day seven of the Russian invasion, strikes on Kharkiv have killed at least four people.

Russia claims it has taken control of the city of Kherson, which the UK and Ukraine have denied.

We speak with Hussain, a Kherson resident who moved to the city in 2020 with his wife and young daughter.

He describes what the situation is like in the city, and his worry that he won’t be able to feed his family.

You can find our Ukraine fundraiser here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the fighting in Ukraine continues, the Evening Standard is launching an appeal to raise money for the thousands of men, women and children fleeing the conflict.

We’ve set up a GoFundMe to support charities on the ground including the Red Cross, who are helping refugees cross the border into Ukraine’s western neighbours.

Journalist Tom Mutch, who is also supporting refugees as they flee Ukraine, explains how the operation is going, how people are feeling, and what people in the UK can do to help those caught up in the conflict.

You can find our appeal here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

London is preparing for the first network-wide underground strike action in more than 5 years

All underground stations are expected to close on Tuesday and Thursday, as members of the RMT Union strike over jobs, pensions and working conditions.

It’s thought the strike action will mean a £20million loss in fare income for an already struggling Transport for London.

City Hall Editor Ross Lydall discusses the planned tube strike action, London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s role in trying to resolve it, and what the future holds for TfL.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do you sell an idea that’s so innovative, a lot of people don’t understand it?

This is a bonus episode for our brand new business podcast "An Invitation to Meet…”, this week we're letting you hear our interview with Holly Tucker MBE, who founded the Not on the High Street marketplace 16 years ago. 

You can hear the full episode with Holly here: https://pod.fo/e/108b77

Now running the Holly & Co small business advice company, she tells us how she used the power of story-telling to drum up finance and persuade the public to use her site when “people still didn’t like putting their credit card details into a shopping portal". We also talk to Holly about why women leading businesses is so important.

Holly will be appearing at the Evening Standard’s SME EXPO event at Olympia London. You can get more details, and free tickets, here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tube strikes across the entire network will go ahead next week as part of the ongoing row over Transport for London cuts. 

Passengers are facing severe disruption, closed stations and little or no service, the same week the TfL fare increases come into effect.

The Evening Standard’s City Hall Editor, Ross Lydall, explains everything that London commuters need to know about what’s set to be a week of travel misery.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.