The Entrepreneurs
A weekly deep dive into global business. Inspiring stories from startups to legacy brands in hospitality, design, fashion, and retail.
Latest Episodes
Like a local
The global travel industry is a juggernaut influenced by world events, hi-tech disruption, the rise of the middle class and long-term trends, one of which is the increasing desire for a genuine local experience when overseas. We meet the CEOs of two travel companies that aim to fulfil that need:…
Do the Kind thing
Daniel Lubetzky is the founder and CEO of Kind, the fastest-growing snack company in the US, and author of the ‘New York Times’ bestseller ‘Do the Kind Thing’. Lubetzky and his team have built a billion-dollar company based on healthy ingredients and a devotion to the philosophy and practice of…
High velocity
Velocity is an app that offers a curated selection of the world’s best dining experiences, picked by local insiders. The all-in-one platform is aimed at the jet-set crowd and lets users discover, reserve and pay for meals around the world. Co-founder Alex Macdonald shares the company’s story and vision. Meanwhile,…
Craftwork
Hirofumi Kurino from United Arrows and Simone Cipriani from the Ethical Fashion Initiative discuss the creative partnership that led them to hitch a ride to Ethiopia. Then the CEO of Oliver Peoples explains why the US eyewear brand is making moves in Europe. And Palida Boonyarungsrit reveals how she’s leveraging…
Designing the simple life
In an age of digital distraction and constant interruption one company is taking a stand for minimalism through good design. Punkt. is a Swiss brand that creates products to simplify our frenetic lives. Their latest creation is a mobile phone that does just two things: make calls and send texts.…
Taking off
Not long ago Texas-born Mickey Ashmore was a 20-something finance graduate working for Microsoft. Now he’s affectionately known as the Sabah Dealer, the founder of a hugely popular and fast-growing brand that sells slip-on shoes based on an old-school Turkish design. Ashmore shares his tale. Meanwhile, we meet Simon Talling-Smith,…
Bright future
We visit God’s Own Junkyard, a family business in a quiet neighbourhood in London that has perfected the art of making signs. We also meet an Australian entrepreneur who set off for gelato school in Italy and returned to Melbourne with a delicious company: Pidapipó Gelateria. Plus: former airline pilot…
Rivet & Hide
Entrepreneurs find inspiration in unlikely places. For Danny Hodgson, founder and owner of Rivet & Hide, one of London’s premier shops for premium denim brands, inspiration arrived thousands of feet in the sky. For more than two decades Hodgson worked for British Airways as a cabin-services director on long-haul flights…
Dark and stormy
Failure is an experience that no entrepreneur wants to encounter, yet one that pretty much every one will. This week we explore what happens when your luck runs out and the best ways to bounce back. Mark Jennings is the founder of Shaken Cocktails, a cocktail-subscription start-up. Shaken, however, no…
Aegean Summit: how to build a media brand
Amid paywalls, platforms and advertising woes, few media outlets have cracked the code required to create a successful, sustainable and profitable business model. The Aegean Summit, a new conference in Athens, is looking to the Middle East, North Africa and the Mediterranean for guidance on best practice. We meet with…
