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.”

Lucy Locket Loves makes colourful fitness clothing and accessories for women. The Derbyshire business caters for a wide range of body shapes, with sizes spanning six to 26. Former personal trainer Lucy Arnold founded the company in 2018 after suffering a back injury. While recovering, she created leggings to sell to former clients. Customers include Made In Chelsea star Rosie Fortescue and the company launched a collection with Strictly’s Dianne Buswell last year.

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.”

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.

SoPost has built a digital sampling platform which enables over 200 brands, including Estée Lauder, L’Oréal and Unilever, to run data-driven online sampling campaigns. SoPost’s technology is available in 20 markets, utilising a global distribution network to ship samples direct to participating consumers’ homes…

In the pantheon of British entrepreneurs to have navigated enormous, spirit-crushing roadblocks to turn their dreams into reality, one pushing for kingpin status is 58-year-old Surinder Arora – founder, owner and chairman of Arora Hotels. We spoke to him about his fascinating journey…