Beijing-born twins Jake Xu and Shane Carnell-Xu launched this men’s cosmetics brand in 2019 after raising funds from angel investors Sally Preston and Neil Mather of Kiddylicious, the children’s snack business. Bestsellers in Shakeup’s skincare and makeup range include moisturiser, under eye concealer and face masks. The brand is stocked by national and overseas retailers, such as Harvey Nichols, Superdrug and Australia’s Myer, and it recently launched its new Face 4ward range in China. The Xu brothers previously set up READY, a creative agency based in Bath.
The twins set to shake up the cosmetics industry
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My teacher told me “you’ll either go to prison or be a millionaire”
Universal Partners is a financial services firm for businesses and high-net-worth individuals. Co-founded by Oliver Carson and Dhaval Patel in 2017, the company specialises in cross-border payments and bespoke risk management services. Universal Partners has earned recognition for its growth, including a nomination for the Scale-Up Business of the Year at the Lloyds British Business […]
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.
As a founder you have to juggle ‘doing the job’ and being the CEO
Steven co-founded Lawrence Stephens 25 years ago with two friends Stephen Messias and Lawrence Kelly. The business has since grown from a team of 3 to over 150. As a proud partner of the FEBE Growth 10, Steven shares how the founder spirit has helped him build one of the fastest growing law firms in the UK.
WHY ‘LET’S GO AGAIN!’ IS THE ULTIMATE ENTREPRENEURIAL MANTRA
Vanilla Underground’s recent growth has been formidable, with online sales of its officially licensed clothing and apparel going – to use a technical term – completely ballistic. Armchair shoppers are ordering Minecraft T-shirts, Peppa Pig slippers and Harry Potter rucksacks faster than Sonic the Hedgehog. And the trend has handed the company’s Tamworth-based co-founders, married couple Deniz and Jason Yarnell, a heady combination of excitement, joy, and – because you can’t run a business without it – worry.
Founding a business is brutal…but amazing!
England football captain Harry Kane is one of the investors behind this gut health brand, which raised £1.4m in March. Dr Megan Rossi, a gut health specialist and research fellow at King’s College London, joined forces with chief executive Jon Walsh to launch
‘What creates good entrepreneurship? Obsession!’
This year, Meatless Farm launched a vegan steak made from pea protein, adding to its range of plant-based food that includes meat free mince, burgers and chicken. Danish entrepreneur Morten Toft Bech founded the Leeds-based business in 2016. It opened production hubs in the Netherlands and Canada last year and now exports to more than […]