The Small Business Sessions

The Small Business Sessions from Enterprise Nation is back and powered by Xero. Every week Enterprise Nation founder Emma Jones speaks to entrepreneurs and experts about starting and growing a successful business. Next up, Gary Turner, UK managing director at Xero, discusses how to build a world class workforce for your business. To find out more, go to www.enterprisenation.com/podcastHuge thanks...

The Small Business Sessions from Enterprise Nation is back and powered by Xero. Every week Enterprise Nation founder Emma Jones speaks to entrepreneurs and experts about starting and growing a successful business. Next up, Simon Coley, co-founder of Karma Cola, discusses his Fairtrade drinks brand which gives part of the proceeds to organic cane sugar and real cola nut farmers in Sierra Leone. He...

The Small Business Sessions from Enterprise Nation is back and powered by Xero. Every week Enterprise Nation founder Emma Jones speaks to entrepreneurs and experts about various stages of starting a growing a successful business. To kick us off, Oliver Bridge, founder of men's shaving supplies and toiletries business Cornerstone and his mentor and growth adviser, Richard Fifield, discuss how...

The 35th session is with Enterprise Nation member Ceri Jones. A natural chef wasn't much of a thing five years ago when Ceri left her job in the music industry and went off to San Fransisco to train as one. How things change! With the recent launch of the Natural Kitchen Adventures app which is based around seasonal recipes, plus cooking for clients on yoga retreats and teaching classes of he...

The 34th session is with Enterprise Nation member Rachel Maclean. As the co-founder of a HR platform aimed at small businesses, Enterprise Nation member Rachel Maclean's Session should be helpful as well as inspiring! Rachel quit her full time job in HR after 20 years to set up Air because she saw a real gap in the market. The Enterprise Nation member runs her business predominantly out of Bi...

The 33rd session is with Enterprise Nation member Sophie Bush. Is the New year inspiring a bit of a sort out at home? Well perhaps the first of our 2017 Small Business Sessions might get your idea cogs whirring! Sophie is the founder of My Warehouse Home. After moving in to a new warehouse flat herself, she left her job at Conde Nast to set up her own magazine aimed at people living in or interest...

The 32nd session is with Enterprise Nation member and founder of Tuckshop Flowers Carole Patilla. Carole chatted to us on a break between dashing from one Christmas wreath making workshop to another which makes a very fitting festive finalee to our 2016 podcasts. After being asked to organise the flowers for her brother in law's funeral and at a point of feeling dissatisfied with her 20 year...

The 31st session is with Enterprise Nation member and Worktaster founder Sally Tomlinson. Lying exhausted after tackling the New York marathon isn't the obvious time to come up with a business idea, but that's what happened to Sally Tomlinson. Sally is one of the brains behind Worktaster, a platform for young people aged 14 to 19 to find the work experience they need to get started on th...

The 30th episode is with TROVE co-founder and Enterprise Nation member Ada Okpe. TROVE is a company that sources local items such as luxury toiletries, guidebooks and fresh coffee to be left for guests by Airbnb hosts. With his co-founder Tom, he was inspired to start the business after travelling in the US staying in Airbnb properties and a luxury hotel in Las Vegas. Noticing that the hotel has p...

The 29th session is with Enterprise Nation member and Memrica founder Mary Matthews. Mary is inspirational founder of Memrica, an app that is truly life changing. The service creates what the entrepreneur describes as a 'back up memory' and helps people who are anxious about forgetting people and places which impacts on their social confidence and, for many, leads to depression. Mary&apo...

The 28th episode is with Enterprise Nation member and co-founder of Bluebird Tea Co. Krisi Smith. With her partner Mike, tea mixologist and Enterprise Nation member Krisi founded Bluebird Tea Co. The couple are on a mission to do what other people do with cocktails but using tea blends instead. Big and unusual flavours are their thing with combos like rhubarb and custard, cherry bakewell and mulle...

The 27th episode is with Enterprise Nation member and founder of Henpicked, Deborah Garlick. A very special session this week as it was recorded live on stage at Enterprise Nation's Festival of Female Entrepreneurs last month. After spotting a gap in the market for a website catering for woman over 40, Deborah Garlick co-founded Henpicked with some friends to cater for the things that they wa...

The 26th episode is with Enterprise Nation member and Piccolo founder Cat Gazzoli. With culinary legend Prue Leith as a mentor and an investor plus a child nutritionist and a creative with a branding background with brands like Itsu as co-founders, Cat Gazzoli has already got a pretty good cheerleading squad for her organic baby food brand Piccolo. The entrepreneur is passionate about ethical sour...

The 25th episode is with Enterprise Nation member and This Mum Runs founder Mel Bound. As an exhausted Mum, Mel Bound was desperate to regain a bit of time to herself and put a post on a Facebook group one evening to see if anyone else fancied joining her for a jog in the park after she'd put the kids to bed. 75 women showed up from just that one post and now her community This Mum Runs boast...

The 24th session is with Enterprise Nation member and Etieno founder Precious Jason. Diagnosed in 2012 with leukemia. Precious struggled to find natural products that were safe and nourishing enough to the mend the damage that was done to her skin after treatment. That gave her the idea for Etieno, a range of skincare products that make life easier for cancer patients. Setting up a business whilst...

The 23rd session is with Simon Lyons, Enterprise Nation member and founder of product design studio Version 22. In this session Simon offers up some great advice about the struggles that so many start-ups face over cashflow and knowing what to prioritise when. Both of his products have been launched through crowdfunding and it was his first campaign that got him chatting to our founder Emma Jones...

The 22nd session is with Enterprise Nation member and StatueFindr founder Grace Everett. Author Grace Everett had an idea for a book about London's great statues that morphed in to an idea for an app. She has now launched StatueFindr which provides a new way to explore the diverse range of sculptures in the city of Westminster. Spot a statue, check the app and you'll get information abou...

The 21st session is with Robert Edmonds, Enterprise Nation member and founder of NRG Digital. Robert is a three times BAFTA nominated director, producer and editor and spent 17 years in the TV industry working on some of Britain's most popular primetime shows including Grand Designs and Crimewatch. Rob has now moved into the commercial sector and founded NRG Digital, which creates content dri...

The 20th session is with Enterprise Nation member and founder of David Harris Magic, David Harris. With a father who performed magic to entertain him for hours on end, it's perhaps not surprising that David Harris ended up being a magician for a living. Swapping a career in security services to getting paid to have fun and entertain people has required years of practice and a commitment to sp...

The 19th session is with Enteprise Nation Member and Annellino founder Gabriella Turner. Gabriella discovered an Aladdin's Cave when visiting her grandmother in Italy who wanted to buy her a graduation present. She fell in love the 150-year-old workshop operated by a third generation goldsmith which inspired her to set up fine jewellery brand, Annellino. Gabriella's 18 carat gold product...

The 18th session is with Enterprise Nation member and Ibraheem Toy Store founder Nazia Nasreen. Standing terrified in front of journalists doesn't sound like the perfect night out, but the brains behind the UK's first online Islamic toy store summoned the courage and it paid off! That pitch at Enterprise Nation's Meet the Journalists even in Birmingham led to her being featured in t...

The 17th session is with Enterprise Nation member and The Perfume Garden founder Marina Barcenilla. Marina distinctly remembers sniffing just about everything that passed her by so it's no surprise that she ended up as a perfumer! She founded The Perfume Garden five years ago, which focuses on creating luxurious fragrances inspired by nature for a whole range of different products from perfum...

The 16th session is with Enterprise Nation member and Neo-Slip founder Neomi Bennett. Neomi left school without any qualifications but once she'd had her family, decided to study nursing as a mature student. It was a study project that led to her launching her own product, Neo-Slip, which now counts the NHS as one of its clients. Neo-Slip is a little bag that goes over a patient's foot t...

The 15th session is with Enterprise Nation members and Deakin & Francis directors, Henry and James Deakin. Most children are used to playgrounds growing up, but not Henry and James. Their fun was centred around learning how to melt and bend metal in the Birmingham jewellery factory that was founded by their family 230 years ago. As the current owners of Deakin & Francis, England's old...

The 14th session is with Enterprise Nation Classic member and Teahuggers founder Esther Thompson. Four bouts of tonsillitis, 10 years mulling over the idea, and a little nudge from Enterprise Nation's StartUp Saturday one day business class gave coffee addict Esther the confidence to launch healthy tea brand, Teahuggers. She is a big advocate of the power of passion for what you're doing...