How to be a CEO

Tom Leathes is CEO of Motorway, the car buying and selling company that launched in 2017 and secured Unicorn status just four years later, after it was valued at over $1billion. The brand itself has grown rapidly in the UK since it launched, with effective TV and radio marketing campaigns promoting a different way of selling your car. In this episode Tom explains his journey to success with Motorw...

Zahra Bahrololoumi is CEO of Salesforce UK & Ireland, dubbed the world's number one customer relationship management software company.  The company has committed $4 billion towards AI innovation and growth in the United Kingdom over five years, and it’s building the company’s first AI Centre based in London. Zahra herself has been named one of the best-known female leaders in the UK, and...

Nicola Hodson is UK & Ireland CEO of multinational corporation IBM. It is the largest industrial research organisation in the world, and has been making headlines for its computer technology for decades. Today though, the company is firmly in the midst of the AI revolution and Nicola has been put in charge of continuing to push forward their artificial intelligence offering.  In this epis...

Jonathan Raggett is CEO of Red Carnation Hotels , an international hotel group designed to offer guests a luxurious, bespoke experience. It has accommodation in places including the UK, Switzerland and South Africa. In this episode, Jonathan explains his ‘back to the floor’ scheme for managers, and reveals how the business is adapting to new challenges around sustainability, maintaining a good rep...

Kate Nicholls is the CEO of UKHospitality: the lead trade body for the hospitality industry in the UK. It represents more than 750 companies operating around 100,000 venues, in a sector that employs 3.5 million people. In this episode Kate discusses how the sector's still recovering from Covid-19, why a VAT cut is the single best way to boost hospitality right now, and why she hates the term 'stay...

In this edition of How to be a CEO we’re talking to the boss of AXA UK and Ireland, Tara Foley. She took up the position last year, so there’s lots to talk about there, including what her plans for her first year are. We'll also be looking at their recent survey, looking at who is starting up small businesses right now, and what challenges they're facing. We’ll also be looking at the AXA Start-up...

On this edition of How to be a CEO, we’re talking to Octopus Money CEO Ruth Handcock to get tips on sorting out your finances when you’re trying to start a business. In this episode, we're talking about: Why people think they’re bad with money, but many aren’t any worse than others Why the cost of living crisis “feels like it’s got worse” for many people  How to sort your personal finances an...

Continuing our SME season, looking at successful start-ups, we speak with 2011 The Apprentice winner Tom Pellereau, whose business is thriving, 13 years later. Tom’s beauty innovation business Stylideas has made millions since launching in 2012, in part thanks to Lord Alan Sugar’s support and investment. In this episode we talk about: What Tom would have done if he didn’t make it on the show Tom r...

We're continuing our SME season on How to be a CEO with solo round the world sailor Pip Hare. In this episode: Pip's 30 year journey to become a round the globe sailor What is “flow state” and how did it help her accomplish her dream? The problems trying to make her way in the sailing world as a young woman The “knackered old boat” she had to use to sail solo around the world Why winning was less...

Continuing our season looking at the SME market, we're looking at what happens when you're start-up is a hit? What do you do next?    Joining the show is Making Moves founder and CEO Tobi Crosbie. His office space rental company is about to celebrate its tenth anniversary, having come through the pandemic-induced era of home working. In this episode we talk about:   Why Tobi sold hi...

On this episode of How to be a CEO we’re continuing our series looking at start-up success stories. Pockit is a London-based fintech, serving customers left behind by mainstream banks. It was launched in 2014, has more than 900 thousand customers, and last summer it raised ten million dollars in funding – but it hasn’t been all plain sailing. Its CEO Virraj Jatania spoke to the Evening Standard’s...

Kickstarting a season of shows looking at the SME market, we speak to Theo Paphitis, the former Dragon's Den star whose retail group includes companies like Ryman Stationery, Robert Dyas, Boux Avenue and London Graphic Centre. He's also the man behind the phenomenally popular Small Business Sunday network, which he started from his kitchen table in 2010. In this episode we talk about: Why starting...

Formerly group CEO of Barclays, Antony Jenkins is the founder and CEO of 10x Banking. It's a tech company created in 2016 with an ambition to “build better banks”. In this conversation we talk about: • The future of banking •The influence of big tech in finance with innovations like Apple Pay •Why he founded 10x Banking with his own money and the difficulty developing new technologies •The ageing...

Polly McMorrow is CEO of McCann London, part of one of the biggest advertising agencies in the world. Clients include Xbox, Aldi, Just Eat and Wimbledon. In this episode we talk about: What her New Year Resolutions for business are How to make a great marketing campaign  Why she nearly turned the job down as soon as she was offered it The future of marketing    For more interviews,...

It's been an extraordinary year, with extremely challenging conditions for businesses large and small across all sectors. In this edition of How to be a CEO we're joined by the Standard's business editor Jonathan Prynn and Business and Tech correspondent Simon Hunt.    What's going to get better in 2024? What sectors will thrive in the next twelve months? The opportunities in sector...

This is a special edition of How to be a CEO, in support of the Evening Standard and Comic Relief’s Winter Survival Campaign. To donate go to comicrelief.com/winterdonate . The campaign continues until December 22nd. Running a business in a cost of living crisis is hard. Imagine running a charity? Samir Patel’s the CEO of Comic Relief, which last year raised fifty million pounds to help causes add...

It was 2002 when entrepreneur Nick Woodman first set up his GoPro business, something he calls today "the realisation of a dream". What was only intended to be a small, niche business offering a new way of filming for surfers, grew into a household name synonymous with action cameras for extreme sports, adventuring and capturing footage in all conditions. In this episode Nick tells us about his 21...

Graham Bell took the reigns at B&Q in 2018, and has seen the company through a rapid evolution. In this episode we talk about:  His first day on the job and what his priorities were How the Covid pandemic turbocharged their development What the company's priorities are now How customer demands led to them opening smaller stores Why he's grateful to the person who bought the diy.com URL al...

Twenty years ago Richard and his twin brother Anthony Joseph set up their company, Joseph Joseph, with an idea to revolutionise tasks in the home. Simple things like making better chopping boards for the kitchen, ironing boards that fold, and all sorts of ways to tidy up those kitchen drawers. Of course, not everything worked out. Yet, even with a few missteps here and there, Richard’s now CEO of...

Charlie Bigham is the founder of the food company that bears his own name. Created in 1996 in his own kitchen, it now employs 700 people and sells dishes from chicken and mushroom pies you put in the oven to pan-fried Pad Thais. In this episode we talk about:  Why he gave up his career as a management consultant to pursue his own business The importance of keeping things simple, from business...

When BT Business was officially launched in April this year, Bas Burger was the man entrusted to take the reigns. He’s in charge of 24,000 people, and a multi-billion pound strategy to make the UK’s broadband infrastructure fit for the future. In this episode we talk about: ·      Why BT Business had to be created and why he wanted the top job ·   &nbsp...

Tjodolf Sommestad is the President of King Games, creators of Candy Crush. One of the earliest 'freemium' games, over the last decade it's become the most downloaded match game in the world, with three billion downloads across platforms. In this episode we talk about:    How Candy Crush was developed Why its rapid success forced Tjodolf to put his own job at risk What you do when there's...

After taking WordPress from a small blogging site in the 2000s to an all-in-one website creation platform, which is now the backbone of around a third of all websites, Matt Mullenweg has now set his sights on social media. Now as CEO of Tumblr, Matt reveals his plans to revamp the site, welcome disillusioned ex-Twitter and Reddit users, and create a social site that is, at its core, open-source. I...

If you've ever had a text reminding you about a hospital appointment, there's a good chance it'll have come via DrDoctor. The platform was built in 2012 and allows patients to book or cancel visits. When co-founder Tom Whicher was developing the idea, the concept of sharing data, and using AI in healthcare was controversial. Now, it's commonplace and the company started this year by winning £10 mi...

Rafael Oliveira is International Markets President at Kraft Heinz, which has operations in more than 50 countries. Now based in London, he started life in Rio de Janeiro where he says the democracy of the beach taught him how to negotiate with people from different backgrounds. In this interview we talk about: ·      How Kraft Heinz handles global communication with s...