Business Leader

Josh Bayliss was appointed as the chief executive of Virgin Group by Sir Richard Branson in 2011. He works with an array of Virgin branded-businesses, 70,000 employees but just one shareholder - the Branson family. It is a unique job with unique challenges and unique opportunities. This is the story behind the Virgin brand and how Josh Bayliss ended up running it… This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit offtolunch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kevin McCabe tells the story of how he built a property empire and then ended up running Sheffield United, his beloved football club. It is a story that has highs, lows, controversial goals and legal battles. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2018 the founder of Tide, George Bevis, stood aside as chief executive and was succeeded by Oliver Prill. Since then Tide has grown rapidly. It has gone from being a promising financial technology start-up to a company whose online banking services are used by one in 10 small and medium-sized businesses in the UK. In this episode of Business Leader, Oliver Prill discusses the challenges of becoming chief executive, how to disrupt the financial services industry and why regulators may hold back innovation in the UK. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit offtolunch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wizz Air has emerged as one of the biggest airlines in Europe and a new low-cost rival to Ryanair and EasyJet. Its first flight was in May 2004, travelling from Katowice in Poland to Luton in the UK. Today it carries more than 60 million passengers every year and is valued at well over £2 billion after floating on the stock market in London. In this episode of Business Leader, Jozsef Varadi, the founder and chief executive of Wizz Air, discusses how he founded and built the airline, the challenges he has faced and his fascinating views on what it is like running a UK-listed business. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How does a business survive for 250 years and still be controlled by the same family? Rankin Brothers & Sons was founded in 1774 and is celebrating its 250th birthday in 2024. It has seen the creation of the United States of America, two World Wars, and the Covid-19 crisis. Jim Rankin is the sixth generation of the family to lead the business, which supplies corks and caps for beer, wine and spirits. He has been in the business for 30 years, but when he was younger he didn’t want to join it and feared he would fall-out with the rest of his family… Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Former SAS members Floyd Woodrow and Peter Malmstrom share insights on leadership and team-building learned in the military, now applied to their successful business Quantum Group worth millions. They discuss risk assessment, innovative practices, resilience, and military background influencing their business strategies.

Duncan Clark was an environmental journalist at The Guardian, pioneering a new way of telling stories through data visualisation and graphics. Now he is at the centre of one of the fastest-growing tech companies in the world - Canva, which offers free online tools for graphic design and has been valued at $40 billion (£32 billion). This is the story of how he built a business, sold it to Canva, and is now leading the company’s ambitious expansion plans in Europe This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit offtolunch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Robinhood is one of the fastest-growing companies in America and claims it is helping to democratise finance by offering commission-free share trading for all. Now it is coming to the UK. Jordan Sinclair, the president of Robinhood UK, explains how it is approaching a UK launch, the story behind the business and the challenges it has faced along the way… Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A failed athletics career and an unfulfilled Olympics dream. A successful business. A failed business. Another successful business and a redemption story. This podcast episode could be four stories in one. But remarkably it is one story, which is why it is slightly longer episode of Business Leader than normal. This is the story of John Stapleton.He co-founded the New Covent Garden Soup Company and Little Dish, two successful food businesses. But in between those success stories he suffered a big failure with Glencoe Foods, which he had to close. And before all of that he had dreams of competing in the triple jump at the Olympics. This is a story about how failure can teach you more than success. And how luck - good and bad - will always play a role… Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ophelia Brown, founder of Blossom Capital, discusses raising $1 billion for her female-led venture capital firm. Topics include her journey, challenges in venture capital, promoting diversity in tech, and scaling sales and marketing teams for business growth.