Business Leader

From homemade power snack to supermarket challenger brand 🏋♀️ 🥜 Pip Murray founded Pip & Nut | B Corp in 2013 with a desire to create an all-natural recipe that avoided unnecessary additives and palm oil. And when her recipe proved an instant hit with friends, she saw that there was a clear gap in the market that she could capitalise on. 12 years later, Pip & Nut has annual retail sales of £25m and can be found in most supermarkets across the country. And while Murray acknowledges that peanut butter is something of a “permitted indulgence” for health-conscious consumers, there’re more to their story of success. Because it takes more than just a good product to become a successful challenger business. It takes exceptional branding. Instead of following suit with the traditional peanut butter brands, Murray homed in on what would make her business unique. Armed with playful branding that looked nothing like the other products on the shelves, Murray’s commitment to individuality set Pip & Nut apart from day one. In our latest podcast episode, Dougal Shaw sat down with Pip Murray to understand how she took her idea from the kitchen table to supermarket shelves, through food markets, rigorous product testing and a few failed product ideas along the way.

It’s time for entrepreneurs and SME’s to have a seat at the policymaking table 💪 During last week’s panel discussion on the Goldman Sachs Growth Agenda, we were joined by incredible entrepreneurs who’ve walked the path of scaling a business (sometimes multiple!), to share their insights on the relationship between policy and business growth. Jon Foster, Goldman Sachs James Uffindell - Founder, Bright Network Rosie Speight - Founder Equi London Kavita Cooper BSc FCIPS Chartered - Founder, Novo-K Procurement Solutions It’s never been more important to get these conversations started. The growth of the UK economy depends on it. As Rosie Speight said: “We all know SME’s are the backbone of our economy, they make up about 52% of our countries GDP – it’s insane. But a lot of policy is geared towards big business – so we need better representation. Because any policy disproportionately affects our businesses.” Thank you to Goldman Sachs for hosting this panel. It’s great to see the work you continue to do to empower entrepreneurs through your #10KSB initiative! And a huge thank you to everyone who joined us in the audience and shared your questions and insights with us. It was great to have you there! #BLS25

77% of UK CEOs feel overworked and burnt out 🤯 And with the pressing demands of running a business, it’s no surprise. Symptoms of burnout range from anxiety, depression and self-medication. And left untreated, can have dire long-term consequences. That’s where Paracelsus Recovery - Swiss Clinic comes in. This is the clinic bringing CEO’s back from burnout. Since opening in 2013, they’ve treated hundreds of CEOs. With a 24-hour live-in therapist, they provide their clients the support to address existing concerns and set them up with the tools for future success. Because as a business leader, it’s all too easy to fall victim to burnout. Countless demands including the pressures of scaling and caring for a growing team means it’s critical for CEOs to strike a healthy balance if they’re to perform at their best. To pour into a business, a leader must pour into themselves. Thank you for looking after Dougal Shaw on his visit Jan Gerber. Keep up the great work! 📹 Dougal Shaw Follow Business Leader for more insights for founders and CEOs as you scale your business 🚀

Expanding to the US is a dream for many mid-sized businesses 🚀 And with so many advantages - a skilled workforce, a huge customer base and a vibrant investment environment – it’s no surprise. But it also a big challenge for businesses. Because in many ways, what makes the US an attractive market is also what makes it difficult. In this week’s Masterclass, we take a look at the do’s and don’ts of US expansion and give a blueprint for businesses wanting to get it right. We also take a look at: 💡 How Udemy is revolutionising learning 💡 How Manchester became home to a wonder material 💡 Tesco’s US expansion nightmare 💡 Sabrina and Idris Elba’s skincare brand S'ABLE Labs 💡 Ed Smith: What a cricket auction tells us about valuation 💡 The Swiss CEO burnout clinic Paracelsus Recovery - Swiss Clinic 💡 PocDoc CEO on lending his expertise to other businesses

Teamwork makes the dream work. And we couldn’t do it without ours 🙌 Last week, we had the opportunity to hear from the UK’s leading business owners on their journeys scaling their businesses. And one thing that kept coming up was the importance of building a stellar team. One that can bring a vision to life. Because building a great business isn’t just about those at the top. It’s an equal sum of all its parts. The real magic happens when everyone comes together to do what they do best. Create special moments ✨ And that’s what the Business Leader Summit was. A one-of-a-kind opportunity for mid-sized business leaders to come together, hear from incredible leaders who’ve built some of the nation’s most successful and innovative brands and build the community that will help EVERYONE grow. Great work from the Business Leader team for all the hard work bringing this event together. Richard Harpin Shaun Prime Melanie Shah Angela Hammond Chloe Hall Beatrice Povia Carmen Nadolu Gemma Crew Lauren Howlett Joan Okoye John Luck Lee Irvine Jedidiah Silud Kenn Obi Josef Woodward Craig Wilmann Harriet Pentland Graham Ruddick Sarah Vizard Josh Dornbrack Geoff Wade Dougal Shaw Jochen Viegener Gio Isnenghi Linda Hardy Hannah Guerin Jonathan Clarke Savannah Fischl And thank you to our #BLS25 Partners and Sponsors Goldman Sachs Deutsche Bank Private Bank Investec BGF Vestd Forvis Mazars Group Growth Partner CBI (Confederation of British Industry) Leeside Digital | TikTok Shop Partner EOS - Entrepreneurial Operating System Here’s to many more 🚀

While you’re busy running your business, do you make the time to help others? That’s exactly how Steve Roest spends the last Friday of every month. Inspired by his father’s own cardiac problems, Roest co-founded PocDoc to provide home diagnostic kits for chronic illnesses. Since then, the company has scaled considerably – making up to 200,000 tests per month, employing 40 team members and generating millions of pounds a year. But despite the demands of scaling rapidly, Roest is on another mission. To help his fellow entrepreneurs. After realising how many entrepreneurs in his niche were struggling with similar problems, Roest set up the Last Friday Club to meet their needs. You see, many businesses face roadblocks in the following areas: 💷 Commercial ⚙️ Operational 👥 Consumer-focused And the Friday Night Club gives business owners a safe space to speak with a leader who’s been there, done it and has the VC knowledge to give the actionable insights to help them out of their rut. Advice like this is worth its weight in gold. Because having someone to point you in the right direction not only turns a business around – it also shields leaders from the isolation that comes with running an organisation. And that’s the power of community 💪 Thank you for sharing your Business Leader Secret with us, Steve! 📹 Dougal Shaw

What does it take to build a brand that lasts? Sabrina Elba didn’t set out to be an entrepreneur. But when she struggled to find skincare that truly catered to melanin-rich skin, she didn’t just create another celebrity beauty brand—she built a mission-driven business from the ground up. S'ABLE Labs took over two years of rigorous product development before launch. Elba and her team went beyond surface-level branding, sourcing resilient African botanicals and working directly with farmers to bring high-quality, antioxidant-rich skincare to market. The result? A fast-growing company that’s not just selling products but reshaping an industry. And Elba's leadership lessons go beyond beauty: 🔹Resilience is key. If you hear “no,” you’re just talking to the wrong person. 🔹Great leaders engage. You can’t understand your community from behind a desk. 🔹Clarity wins. Trying to say everything at once? Your message won’t land. As Elba puts it: “There’s a lack of engagement between business and community… I believe that’s the wrong way to do it.” 📹 Josh Dornbrack

More than 50% of high-growth businesses in the UK struggle to access the capital they need to keep scaling quickly.For many, this lack of capital means:  🕓 Slower expansion  ❌ Missed market opportunities  📉 Stifled investment into tech, talent and vital infrastructure So how do we help these businesses maintain growth and stay on the trajectory to become a big business? That’s where BGF and growth capital comes in. As the most active growth capital investor in UK SME’s, BGF understands exactly what businesses need to grow. They need a support system. And growth capital provides businesses with the support to keep scaling rapidly, whilst retaining control. Growth capital more than just a financial investment. This is how a business unlocks its full potential. And BGF have helped countless businesses on this journey.We spoke to some of their clients to understand how BGF supports and accelerates their growth. https://lnkd.in/ejZG4ptR

What did you think? Was that any good? Do you think they will find it useful? That was what the speakers kept asking me as they came off the stage at the Business Leader Summit. My response? "Are you mad? Why are you asking me that? It was incredible." These were some of the most successful and extraordinary people in business and sport. Why were they asking these questions?! I have taken a while before posting about the Business Leader Summit on Wednesday. It was an agenda-setting day for UK business, a game-changer. We have been overwhelmed with messages since then. Thank you to everyone who attended But I want to say a special thank you to the speakers. The main reason the event was so good was because of them. Our job was to get out their way and let them share their stories and insight. And my goodness they did that. The reason they did that is they put so much hard work into thinking what they were going to say. They were all so passionate about sharing lessons and insight with founders and CEOs - because they know it is crucial for building a successful business. That sharing of knowledge is how the UK can thrive in the future. William S. made that exact point on stage. This idea it is not a new concept, but it seemed to have disappeared until Wednesday. Isaac Newton made it clear hundreds of years ago: "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants". That is what the Business Leader Summit was all about There have been emails and conversations for months with the speakers and their teams about what the audience might be interested in and what they could say to help. Given that these people were leading multi-billion pound organisations, that is remarkable So, I want to say thank you to all the speakers. In particular, the ones I worked most closely with and those who took chance when I asked them many months ago whether they would be interested in speaking at the first Business Leader Summit. It is no exaggeration to state that what they said on Wednesday will change the fate of businesses and entrepreneurs who were in the room So thank you to the speakers below and their teams, in order of when they came on stage! -Rupert Soames of the CBI (Confederation of British Industry), Andy Gregory of BGF and Andy Gray of NatWest Group -Simon Arora of B&M (pictured below!) -The brilliant Catherine Baker and Ben Ryan of Brentford FC and an Olympic gold medal winning coach with Fiji -The three remarkable co-founders and chief executives who are at the forefront of the business world today: Thomas Beahon of Castore William S. of Deliveroo Euan Blair of Multiverse -And lastly, my partners in crime at Business Leader - Sarah Vizard, Dougal Shaw and Josh Dornbrack