UMicast

In our latest podcast, we speak to someone who is at the forefront of efforts to make the beauty industry more sustainable. Jo-Anne Chidley is the Co-Founder and CEO of Beauty Kitchen. You might have seen Beauty Kitchen's natural beauty products in Boots or Holland and Barrett, but the company was really set up to address the fact that 95% of beauty packaging is thrown away after just one use. Which is why Jo and the team launched the Re scheme as a buy anywhere, return anywhere, reuse anywhere alternative to single-use packaging. Jo was also a delegate at the recent UN Climate Conference in Glasgow (COP26). 

In our latest podcast, we speak to recruitment expert and Chief Vision Officer, John Blackburn. John is the boss of video-first recruitment agency Vocacio and has spent the last ten years helping businesses in a variety of sectors access the best talent. He is also a sustainable business advocate and believes in putting people and planet above profit. Founded in 2017, Vocacio uses video throughout the recruitment process to increase efficiency, reduce timescales and find better candidates. The video-first approach also helps to improve the candidate experience and employer brand. 

This podcast is part of the Recruitment & People hot topic over on the UMi platform. 

In our fifth podcast, we speak to serial entrepreneur, best-selling author, keynote speaker, sales consultant and university lecturer, Mike Southon. Co-author of business management book, The Beermat Entrepreneur, Mike started his career building his own IT training company in the 1980s before going on to advise a number of start-ups on how to build stronger teams and get better at selling their products and services. Now, he’s a lecturer in entrepreneurship at City, University of London and sharing his multi-decade experience of all things sales and business development with the next generation.

This podcast is part of the Getting More Sales bundle on the UMi platform

In our fourth podcast, we speak to finance expert Shaun Fooy. Shaun is a Network Manager at the British Business Bank and has 30 years’ experience in business banking, having worked at major high street banks including Barclays, RBS and NatWest. The British Business Bank is best known for delivering government-backed COVID-19 loans such as the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, Bounce Back Loan Scheme and the Future Fund. It also runs a number of programmes for start-ups and SMEs and provides advice and mentoring opportunities for UK founders taking their first steps in business.

This podcast is from the Finding Money tab on the UMi platform

In our third podcast, we speak to public speaker, entrepreneur and wellbeing consultant, Lizzy Hodcroft. A disruptive force in the UK start-up community, Lizzy has founded and raised investment for multiple businesses and is a firm believer in the power of entrepreneurship as self-discovery. After suffering from severe mental ill health and addiction since the age of 14, it was only when Lizzy entered the world of business that she really started to put some of those troubles behind her. People may remember her appearance on Dragon’s Den in 2018 and her emotional Tedx talk in 2019 where she spoke candidly about the phenomenal journey towards self-compassion and self-acceptance that she’s been on.

This podcast is part of our Wellbeing at Work bundle on the UMi platform. 

In our second podcast, we speak to the Founder and CEO of one UK’s most exciting technology companies. Jonny Grubin is the entrepreneur behind SoPost, an online product sampling platform helping brands get their sample products to engaged customers. The 30-year-old has been interested in business his entire adult life, setting up his first venture when he was aged just 14. He has weathered his fair share of adversity in the years since then, dropping out of university to run a business that ultimately failed and facing plenty of setbacks in establishing SoPost. What got Jonny through was his all-in, failure is not an option mindset.

In our first podcast, we speak to the man widely considered one of the Founding Fathers of British Gaming. Ian Livingstone began his career writing interactive fantasy books before co-founding Games Workshop in 1975. In the 1980s, he recognised the potential of the emerging video games industry and began working with Domark, later acquired by Eidos Interactive, producing some of the industry’s most celebrated titles including Tomb Raider and Hitman.