“Most six-year-olds went home after school. I went to mum and dad’s South London cash-and-carry,” As a child in his parent’s humble shop, Vishal Marria, learned big lessons that have been fundamental to the success of his company, Quantexa…

Trying to talk to Sarah Willingham without saying “success” is like trying to eat a doughnut without licking your lips. And when the inevitable happens during the first few seconds of our conversation, the Dragon’s Den star does what comes naturally to her – and in her warm and charismatic manner, she takes control and sets the agenda…

Offering exotic escapes, from jungle adventures to beach retreats and ‘big five’ safaris, this online tour operator specialises in the luxury travel market. Chief executive Nena Chaletzos founded the company after becoming frustrated with the complexity of tailor-making a luxury holiday. The company developed technology that makes the process of multi component trip building easier. […]

Charlie Green doesn’t believe he ever took a risk while co-creating his £500m business, The Office Group. “We just did what made sense,” he says. And he has some simple advice for anyone thinking of following in his footsteps. Starting with ‘Step one: use a proven business model’…

Tofoo produces organic, gluten-, dairy- and yeast-free products from soybeans. Husband-and-wife team Dave Knibbs and Lydia Smith have built the business to sales of £18.6m in 2021. The North Yorkshire firm says it is the fourth-largest brand in the chilled meat-free market, with more than one million households buying its products regularly. Its recent growth is partly due to winning listings in major retailers including Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.

Sixty-five-year-old Mike Clare brims with boyish enthusiasm, even over Zoom. As he chats, it’s not hard to imagine him turning a £20,000 investment into £222m Dreams Beds, which is precisely what he did. And his energy is such that it makes you believe you could do something similar – even during a pandemic…