Husband and wife team Manav and Rimi Thapar started LoveRaw: a plant based chocolate brand with £600 and a food processor. Today, the confectionery is sold in 20 countries, and stockists include Asda, Coop and WH Smith. LoveRaw secured £2m of funding from investor Blue Horizon Ventures in 2020, after rejecting an offer in the BBC’s Dragons’ Den two years earlier. The family-run firm is based in Altrincham, Greater Manchester, and products launched this year include vegan peanut butter cups in milk and white chocolate flavours.
How we blagged meetings with buyers to build our brand
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When Nicholas Charles Tyrwhitt Wheeler talks business, you listen. The founder of Charles Tyrwhitt Shirts has built a company that turns over £220m. He owns 95% of it. So, it’s fair to say Nick has picked up a few valuable lessons since launching his business in 1986. So, when we met Nick, we walked away with seven golden nuggets that we’d like to share with you…
‘To be extraordinary you need to be ‘extra’ ordinary’
A wardrobe malfunction with ill-fitting tights that would not stay up inspired Brigitte Read to set up this hosiery business in 2018. Snag Tights caters for a wide range of sizes from four to 36 and offers 1,500 product lines. The online retailer has diversified into leggings, T-shirts, skirts and swimwear and has more than 2m customers in 90 countries. The Scottish-based brand is now eyeing expansion in America.
OONI Pizza Ovens: ‘We didn’t disrupt this market; we created it’
Pizza oven maker Ooni’s year-on-year growth is turbo-charged, but the stat that most exhilarates co- founder and co-ceo Darina Garland is not directly related to revenue at all. The number that makes her happiest is the company’s Employee Net Promoter Score, which is a whopping 74. The global average eNPS – a measure of employee engagement – is 12, with anything above 30 regarded as outstanding. So 74 is an outlier that proves that Ooni’s team absolutely loves working there.
How I overcame illness, tragedy and humiliation to build a multimillion-pound global brand
Rob Law has conquered more challenges than most, including family tragedy, personal illness and humiliation on national TV. Here, Rob reveals the tools he uses to dance around seemingly immovable obstacles and we uncover why having these tools in your kitbag is often the difference between success and failure…
Why businesses with ‘soul’ are magnetic
The story of Green & Black’s shows that the courage to be different, together with a compelling adventure story, are key ingredients for commercial success. Josephine Fairley knows how to build a killer brand, and here she shares her pearls of wisdom with you including effectiveness of complementary partnerships, the power of enthusiasm and the potency of targeted marketing…
HOW TWO DOCTORS DITCHED THEIR WHITE COATS TO BECOME ENTREPRENEURS – BUT STILL SAVE LIVES
FOUR FOUNDER LESSONS… When Dr Guy Braverman and Dr Allen Hanouka became businessmen, little did they know that they would build a multimillion-pound company that would save many, many lives. Their career paths seemed set when Dr Guy Braverman and Dr Allen Hanouka were working at North London’s Royal Free Hospital in the early 2000s. […]