The Small Business Britain Podcast

Welcome to series 2 of the Small Business Britain podcast! This series we will be covering topics to help, inspire and support small businesses with a host of inspirational people. For this 3rd episode we are joined by the wonderful G, co-founder of The Queer Box, an organisation training businesses of any size on gender, sexuality and relationship diversity.  G shares with us their story, ho...

Welcome to series 2 of the Small Business Britain podcast! This series we will be covering topics to help, inspire and support small businesses with a host of inspirational people. For this 2nd episode we are joined by the inspiring founders of Cucumber Clothing, Eileen Willett and Nancy Zeffman. Eileen and Nancy share their business story and how ethics and sustainability have always been at the...

Welcome to series 2 of the Small Business Britain podcast! This series we will be covering topics to help, inspire and support small businesses with a host of inspirational people. To kick things off, we are joined by the wonderful Zoe Hardman to talk about our first topic of the series - Balance . Zoe is not only a fabulous TV and radio presenter, hosting two weekend shows on Heart FM, but has co...

Celebrating 12 years in business this month, our latest guest is the fab Luke Quilter, founder of digital marketing agency Sleeping Giant Media . Luke shares with us the story of how he started Sleeping Giant Media after seeing a gap in the market and spending many an evening at his dining room table after working all day; the challenges during COVID of managing a 50-plus work force and how nearly...

For episode 12 of the podcast, we wanted to do something special so we spoke to the founder of Small Business Britain , f:Entrepreneur and i:Entrepreneur and director of Small Business Saturday , Michelle Ovens!  It was a inspiring and wonderful chat about how Mich got to where she is today, the pivotal moments and conversations in her life and career so far (including one with Bill Clinton -...

Have you changed career to follow your dream of owning your own business?  This week's chat is with the inspiring Lorraine Thomas who shares her fascinating and empowering story of how she left a well-paid career in law to be her Dad's carer on minimal wage, but as fate - and an email error - would have it,  has now found her true passion owning a successful property investment business....

With a 27.4k following on Instagram and an award-winning Website In A Day business, it was great to catch up with Cheryl Laidlaw, aka London Web Girl, to talk about her story, how she got to where she is and what she's learnt along the way. It was an open, honest and refreshing chat - so please do give it a listen. 3 things we learnt: consistency is everything; even when you don't feel like showin...

How much value do you place on your website and how much time do you dedicate to it?  In episode 9,  Karen speaks to Mark Tomkins, co-founder of Aubergine - a team of website designers, graphic designers and search optimisers based in Leighton Buzzard, and the recently crowned Supply Chain Champion at The Small Awards!  3 things we learnt: treat your website as a member of staff, yo...

21 years after the film, people are STILL taking photos outside 'that' famous door in Notting Hill. And why? Because they were captivated by that story in that piece of film.  In episode 8,  Karen speaks to Victor Castejon founder of The Quick Brown Fox - a team of dedicated producers, videographers and marketing specialists who care about video and what it can do for your business throu...

In episode 7,  Karen speaks to the fab Gillian Jones-Williams, founder of Emerge UK - a training and development consultancy that has just celebrated 25 years in business. Gillian shares with us her business story, her challenges along the way and how she has nurtured her clients.  3 things we learnt: what narcissistic listening is, the power of an open-ended question and how having a fe...

In episode 6,  Karen speaks to the amazing Delight Mapasure founder of K's Wors - a multi-award winning eclectic range of Southern African inspired Boerewors. Dee is passionate about shaking up the UK’s incumbent premium sausage offering and has recently secured a national listing with Ocado. She is a serial entrepreneur who has established a successful urban cleaning company whilst working i...

In episode 5,  Karen speaks to the wonderful Fran Gubbay, co-founder of Stamptastic - an award-winning company providing a solution to school uniform labelling.  Fran shares with us her business story, the challenges they have faced during the past few months and how a chance product feature on TV boosted business when they really needed it.  3 things we learnt: honesty and authenti...

In episode 4,  Karen speaks to the inspiring Geoff Wilkinson, aka The Building Inspector, founder and managing director of Wilkinson Construction - a multi-award winning approved inspectors providing  building control services across London and south east England. Geoff shares with us his experiences during lockdown being in the construction trade and how he had to quickly adapt his busi...

In episode 3, Karen speaks to the inspiring Christopher Kenna, founder and CEO of Brand Advance - a cultural marketing agency that helps brands reach diversity and connects them with diverse audiences globally.  Christopher shares his fascinating story, the prejudices he still experiences and faces daily being a Black, gay man, and how small businesses currently have a great opportunity to en...

In episode 2, Karen speaks to the amazing Rowena Howie, founder of Revival Retro .  Rowena shares her business story and her considerable ups and downs of the past few months as the owner of a bricks and mortar store.  3 things we learnt: the importance of supplier and customer relationships in testing times, the impact mental health can have on running a business (and vice versa!), and...

In our first episode, Karen speaks to the inspiring Sanjay Aggarwal, founder of Spice Kitchen. Sanjay shares how his family business was sparked after a chat around the dinner table at Christmas, how his business has adapted in recent months, and his brilliant plans for the future.  3 things we learnt: don't let fear hold you back, get your marketing in check in challenging times, and the imp...