Founded in 2016 by then 23-year-old George Melhuish, this West Bromwich based company supports over 30,000 customers. Safe Fence is a manufacturer, hirer, distributor and installer of non-mechanical construction site plant. Expansion into areas such as groundworks, scaffolding and material handling equipment has seen sales more than double in two years, reaching £13.8m in 2021.
‘As an entrepreneur my job is to be a hype-man and recruiter’
George Melhuish
Founder - Safe Fence
More Unemployables
“We’re obsessed with care”
Care is not a traditional business value. Peruse the classics and you’ll see boldness, passion, honesty and perhaps integrity, but not the C-word.
Thankfully things are changing – as Bloom & Wild demonstrates. This flower retailer meets tech company is undoubtedly growing relentlessly. Yet its business values would disorient yesteryear’s ‘manly’ entrepreneurs. “We’re obsessed with care,” says founder Aron Gelbard. “It’s vital to me and it’s a key trait I look for when hiring.”
ARON GELBARD
CO-FOUNDER - BLOOM & WILD
How we grew by 400% and hit 7th in the Fast Track 100
400 and 25,000. In the Ooni story, these two numbers stand out like haggis on a Hawaiian pizza. The first is the company’s percentage growth over the past 12 months. The second is the minimum starting salary for new Ooni employees in the UK. Few companies exhibit such steep growth or raw recruitment power, so how has this Edinburgh-based hardware company done it?
DARINA GARLAND
CO-FOUNDER - OONI PIZZA OVENS
“Our no.1 aim is to be sh*t hot!”
When it comes to pulling off creative ideas, Marie Owen is your go-to leader. Founder of an award-winning production services company, she is the advertising and film industry’s real-life dream-maker. Since starting the business in 2006, Marie has worked with the likes of Harry Styles, Meryl Streep and Marcus Rashford. But it hasn’t all been celebrities and glamour. “I didn’t take a wage for at least four years. But there was always a hunger within me to do more and be better.”
Marie Owen
Founder - LS Productions
“The five insights I’ve used to build two multimillion-pound brands”
“If you’re waking up in the middle of the night because you’re scared, that’s powerful,” says Roger Wade. “As an entrepreneur, it’s that fear that keeps you alive, so embrace it.” Boxpark’s founder and CEO is no stranger to sweaty internal monologues in the early hours. He experienced plenty of night-time terrors while growing British […]
Roger Wade
Boxpark
MyFirst: Starting an Insurance Company With ZERO Experience
James Noble, founder of MyFirst, joins us to share the incredible story of building one of the UK’s fastest-growing insurance businesses from absolutely nothing. Starting with just £10,000 from investors he met while caddying at Wentworth Golf Club, James left behind a career in professional golf to tackle one of the biggest frustrations facing young […]
James Noble
Founder, My First
How to launch a business during a crisis
Alexia Inge co-founded Cult Beauty with no funding, during a deep global recession. Today, they employ over 130 people and turn over £104m. With coronavirus creating such huge uncertainty, we thought we’d sit down with Alexia to hear more about how savvy entrepreneurs can find opportunities at the unlikeliest of times…
Alexia Inge
Co-founder - Cult Beauty