Business Live: for curious entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs

Leon Smith is Chief Customer Officer at educational publisher Twinkl. The Sheffield-based firm employs over a thousand people and has produced specialist resources to support schools and educators in welcoming pupils arriving from overseas for many years. Now, in response to growing demand, the EdTech giant has launched a curated collection of these (and new) resources, many of which are free to a...

When shoemaker Hewlett & Co started working with Amanda Perry, the Louth-based firm made around £2,000 per month in online sales. "We knew there was something there and quite quickly took them to £150,000 months," says Amanda, founder of digital marketing agency Soup and the E-com Growth Hub. It's a remarkable tale in an episode crammed with them – Amanda says many businesses ha...

Sport connects people in unique ways. How can intangible things like memories and shared experiences of sport be collected and harnessed? How can places, memorabilia and artefacts be preserved and looked after? And how does that benefit all of us? Dr. Justine Reilly set up Sporting Heritage CIC , a Yorkshire based organisation on a mission to look after, protect and celebrate the diverse sporting...

Seven out of ten workplace diversity and inclusion programmes fail. They don't achieve meaningful change. A partner in an international accounting firm has even said "after every single unconscious bias training that has ever been done, nothing’s ever improved." So I was fascinated to talk with Shana Gujral in this episode. She's had direct experience of diversity and inclusion...

Natterhub is an educational social media platform which prepares primary school children to thrive online. A gated, "sandbox" environment which includes more than 300 interactive lessons, it develops media literacy and is used in more than 4000 schools. How did Caroline Allams and co-founder Manjit Sareen take Natterhub from idea to Minimum Viable Product in April 2020? And how did they...

Julie Brown makes a living in her dream career. The contemporary artist trained at Huddersfield University two decades ago and has returned to her full-time art practice after working as an illustrator and designer. Julia is part of a new, major group exhibition at The Sculpture Lounge in the Holme Valley where she is a resident studio holder. In the interview (0-34:00) we discuss: Julia's wo...

Drink beer, make the world better! This is no corporate greenwash. You can grab a delicious ale and make a direct contribution to fixing the food system and addressing the climate emergency. Consumer power creates change. The food system is the biggest contributor to climate change and biodiversity loss, yet we waste a third of everything we produce. Nearly half of bread is never eaten. Toast Ale...

Where to go and what to do as lockdown restrictions lift? The pub, a restaurant, to the cinema? How about a locked-room where you and your team-mates must escape a horrifying, demonic or magical scenario? Yes please! Hannah Duraid founded The Great Escape in 2015, Sheffield's first escape room experience, and was last on this show in May 2016. Since then Hannah and her team have taken on a ne...

How can you get people to leave positive reviews on online review sites? How do you deal with controversial comments on social media? And what are the biggest factors behind "checkout abandonment" on small business websites? Harvey Morton is a website, digital and social media expert. He works with small businesses through to larger brands such as Santander and some Universities. And he...

So many businesses boast about a positive culture without their actions following through. But Jenx Limited (trading as Jiraffe) has clearly invested in enabling and building a supportive culture for its people and customers – and the business is thriving, as director Holly Jenkins describes. Jiraffe makes specialist postural support equipment and Holly was last on the show in early 2020 as the pa...

At the "best time in history" to be a creator you should heed Joanna Penn's advice whether or not you're an author. The New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author, who also writes non-fiction for authors, has much to say about how creative entrepreneurs can protect and maximise the value of their intellectual property. Joanna has written 17 novels and 12 books for...

Some folk talk about technology with an "emperor's new clothes" glee, as though it's a panacea for everything wrong with society. Others exhibit phobic terror, blaming technology – not how people use it – for human failings and foibles. Many see both a light and dark side, and there's increasing interest in the addictive nature of social media. For today's curious and...

Accountability, transparency and informed decision making are at the heart of a new website launched by today's guest Eleanor Holmshaw. Whoismycouncillor.co.uk allows users to find the candidates standing in the council elections in their part of Sheffield. They can see candidates' answers to a set of specific questions "important to the city" and learn more about who they coul...

What a week to discuss the business of football with SUFC's Head of Commercial, Paul Reeves. Paul is well known for his dealmaking skills and commercial nous. He explains how he came to join the club in 2014 after working for the city's Chamber of Commerce, and the first big sponsorship deal he scored. We discuss: how the club worked with its partners this year, adapting commercial oppor...

Roll up, roll up it's a two for one special in today's show. Guest Louise Blackburn discusses her brace of businesses: No Waste Living and Amber Couch. Amber Couch is Louise's website design and development business, which she's been running for 15 years.  Sites have certainly changed a lot in that time. Yet there are three common issues which hold many websites back, so they d...

Enquiries about apprenticeships are soaring for The Source Skills Academy, a leading Sheffield provider of training, according to Dale Robinson. And it's no wonder: as the UK moves out of lockdown, apprenticeships can help businesses future-proof themselves while giving young people a head-start. As Director of Business Development for The Source, a charity operating since 2003, Dale works wi...

Jillian Kowalchuk is an award-winning entrepreneur, TEDx speaker and the founder & CEO of Safe & The City. She launched this app in 2017 after a Google Maps route led her into a situation where two men threatened to assault her, which she didn't report believing her experience would not be taken seriously. Since then Safe & The City has been downloaded by tens of thousands of peop...

Here's a first in 330 episodes: a birdsong soundtrack. Lovely backdrop for a chat about books and publishing with Stefan Tobler of And Other Stories. Known worldwide for publishing some of the best contemporary fiction and non-fiction, And Other Stories aims to help people discover adventurous and inspiring writing – and make the publishing industry look less like "posh freemasonry.&quot...

"There are people who've been ostracised by mainstream society and not given the opportunities we've been able to provide for them in the workplace."  What a year it's been for chef and social entrepreneur Chris Hanson. 12 months ago the lease for Blend Kitchen's café in Sheffield City Centre was coming to an end. After two "amazing years" serving great food...

Yinka Ewuola puts a stop to the conversation that because women entrepreneurs have less time to focus on their business, they are at a disadvantage. How and why? Listen on. She runs Calla Success Systems, supporting women to build thriving and profitable businesses while living full, fabulous and nourishing lives.  Yinka explains we've been sold a lie by many people when it comes to achieving...

How do you support your team and manage them effectively at a time of such uncertainty and change? How do you build their and your resilience? And what can business leaders and social entrepreneurs learn from neuroscience about dealing with stress? Jennifer McCanna, a leadership coach, has plenty of practical ideas and solutions you can implement now – even while working remotely – so you can look...

Playing has been Dale Le Fevre's life's work. One of the world's best-known exponents of the New Games movement, Dale has given workshops, trained and played in 35 countries since 1975. New Games are about fun for anyone who wants to take part. Research demonstrates a wide range of benefits for participants. Dale has also worked with businesses worldwide, helping them use new games...

Social enterprises exist to create impact. Not measuring it is like trying to reduce your blood pressure without checking whether your medication or lifestyle changes are having an effect, according to social enterprise and impact specialist Heidi Fisher. Yet many social entrepreneurs are mired in a swamp when it comes to measuring, managing and understanding their impact. Heidi Fisher joins me fo...

Do you remember supermarket shelves stripped bare when the UK went into its first national lockdown in 2020? And widespread reports of no home delivery slots? There are many other places to buy groceries though – but lots of independent shops don't or didn't have their own online shops or delivery services. That's where this week's guest Mazen Musaeed, founder and CEO of 3Miles...

"It's important we can still look forward to a great future," says Mike Lawrence, workplace health and wellbeing consultant. Working from home means many business leaders and employees feel isolated; others experience overwhelm and burnout, or never stop working. He has strategies to protect and support you and your colleagues' health and wellbeing.  Born and raised in a workin...