The Entrepreneurs
A weekly deep dive into global business. Inspiring stories from startups to legacy brands in hospitality, design, fashion, and retail.
Latest Episodes
Moscot
The eyewear brand was founded in New York more than 100 years ago by Hyman Moscot, who emigrated to the US from Eastern Europe in 1899. He began what his family describes as his own American dream by selling ready-to-wear spectacles from a pushcart. By 1915, having garnered a loyal…
Eureka 280: Morty
Nora Apsel is the founder and CEO of Morty, an online mortgage marketplace and licensed broker where homebuyers can shop for, compare and close on a mortgage. She explains how and why the firm set out in 2016 to provide for consumers who were underserved by both traditional mortgage companies…
De Tomaso
For more than 60 years, De Tomaso has been a name to stir the blood of automotive aficionados, racing enthusiasts and historians of everything from design to manufacturing and engineering. The ingenuity and innovations of its eponymous founder, and era-defining cars such as the Vallelunga, Mangusta and Pantera, have captivated…
Eureka 279: Nio cocktails
Started in 2017, Nio, which stands for Needs Ice Only, is an Italian drinks brand that has come up with a clever solution to revolutionise the habits of consumers of alcoholic beverages. It sells ready-to-drink cocktails in single-serving packets that can be easily made at home and at events when…
Ghia
Melanie Masarin is the founder and CEO of Ghia, a non-alcoholic beverage brand inspired by Mediterranean aperitivo culture. Originally from Lyon in France and having spent summers along the Côte d’Azur, Masarin has a deep understanding of the best in food and drink. Meant to bring people together, Ghia’s first…
Eureka 278: Pip Jamieson’s lessons in fund-raising
With many small ventures planning their next steps to grow their business, we turn to the pages of ‘The Monocle Book of Entrepreneurs’. In this episode we present a simple guide to securing funding by Pip Jamieson, founder and CEO of creative-industries networking site The Dots.
Koio
Johannes Quodt co-founded luxury shoe brand Koio with Chris Wichert in 2015. The company has made a huge mark with its Italian-made leather sneakers and boots, which marry good design, sustainability, comfort and top craftsmanship. Last year it began sourcing all of its leather from suppliers that use regenerative farming…
Eureka 277: Solios
Samuel Leroux and Alexandre Desabrais are the co-founders of Solios, a Canadian certified B Corp watch brand that they created in 2016. The idea was to combine elegance and minimalism with solar technology. The pair met at university and each started their career in finance, before realising that they wanted…
Dai
Joanna Dai is founder and CEO of Dai, a B Corp-certified womenswear brand that the Orange County native launched in 2017. Having spent many long days in the office and on the road in nearly a decade of working for JP Morgan between New York and London, Joanna set out…
Eureka 276: Nothing
Nothing is a London-based consumer technology company with a mission to remove barriers between people and their devices. Nothing’s debut product, its Ear 1 wireless headphones, was one of the most anticipated product launches of 2021. Monocle’s Helsinki correspondent Petri Burtsoff met Nothing’s co-founder Akis Evangelidis at the start-up event…
