In this episode of WABChats, we speak with Michelle Niziol, a serial entrepreneur and a leading voice for women in business.

Michelle shares her remarkable journey, starting her first business at 18 and building a suite of seven complementary companies, including her highly successful mortgage brokerage, IMS Property. She explains the strategic evolution of her businesses, focusing on recurring revenue models and how diversification, like her lettings agency, provided crucial resilience during challenging times such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Michelle also unpacks some of the unique challenges faced by female entrepreneurs, particularly around access to funding and the pervasive issue of impostor syndrome. Drawing from her own experiences, she offers powerful advice on building confidence, leveraging supportive networks, and transforming adversity into motivation. She discusses what it took to be "10 times tougher" as a woman navigating a male-dominated industry in her early career, and how she balances assertive leadership with her authentic self.

Listen now to discover Michelle's drive, her approach to managing multiple successful ventures, and her passionate work with The Empowering Entrepreneur to mentor and support other women in business.

Follow Michelle here - Michelle Niziol | LinkedIn

Homepage - The Empowering Entrepreneur®

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Richard Kennell is the founder and CEO of the charity SOFEA. SOFEA is all about helping young people for whom traditional schooling doesn’t click find their spark, the thing that is going to unlock their talents and ultimately find their path in life.

Before starting SOFEA Richard ran his own Education company working with local schools and prior to that Richard had a 20-year career as a secondary school teacher and Assistant Head Teacher. During his time as a teacher, Richard decided he wanted to help those young people that didn’t get on with the traditional schooling system. Richard saw these young people dropping out of school with few skills and fewer qualifications and decided it was time to do something about it.

In this conversation, Richard shares with us the inspiration behind the charity and some of the personal leadership challenges he faced when first getting things off the ground. Richard also talks to us about how businesses can help students in this situation and how they can re-think the early-stage recruitment processes to account for an untapped pool of young talent.

SOFEA - https://www.sofea.uk.com/

Fareshare - https://fareshare.org.uk/

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Piers Daniell is an entrepreneur in the world of energy, property and, more recently, politics. Piers set up his first business aged just 15 and hasn't looked back since then. Piers founded internet service provider Fluidata in 2004 and by the time he departed as Chairman in March 2019, it had grown into a £30m company with over 95% customer retention rate.

The company won numerous awards multiple times including the Tech Track 100 award, Deloitte Fast 50 and being named a Sunday Times Best Small Company to work for three times. Piers himself has also won a number of awards, including Young Entrepreneur of the Year and the Queen’s Award for Innovation which he was presented by the Queen in 2014.

More recently Piers has entered the energy market with his company Tewke. Tewke's AI-enabled Automation allows homeowners to boost energy efficiency, save money, and reduce environmental impact by learning from homeowners' routines and encouraging eco-friendly habits. Tewke's objective is to control and optimise energy, by learning, controlling and adapting.

In this episode, Piers shares with us the challenges and lessons from the very early stage of his business career and the significant challenges he faced when selling his first major business Fluidata. We then go on to discuss his new business Tewke and the work it is doing to address the problems of behavioural change in sustainable living, using AI and Automation to build what is in essence a smart grid for homeowners.

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In this episode of WABChats, we speak with Mihir Warty, Chief Strategy Officer for World Rugby.

Drawing on his background as an economist and management consultant, as well as his experience at Sport England and BBC Sport, Mihir shares invaluable insights into the complexities of building and implementing a global strategy for a sport with millions of stakeholders.

We discuss the crucial stages involved in this process and explore effective communication strategies for conveying a vision to so many stakeholders. Mihir also discusses the critical art of engaging diverse stakeholders, a challenge World Rugby navigates on a massive scale.

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Francesca Muston is Vice President of Fashion at the world-leading trend forecasting company WGSN, the leading authority in consumer trend forecasting.

Francesca shares how WGSN leverages expert analysis and AI-powered data science to equip global companies with a crucial strategic advantage: understanding future trends.

She discusses how businesses across sectors, not just fashion and retail, can utilise trend forecasting to improve their bottom line, make informed decisions, and strategically position themselves for future growth. Francesca also explores the optimal balance between AI-driven insights and human expertise in navigating the evolving market landscape. Tune in to learn how understanding future trends can be a powerful tool for strategic business planning and risk management.

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In this episode, we chat with Duncan McKay, the Founder & CEO of Aistetic, an innovative Oxford University spinout looking to revolutionise the fashion industry.

Duncan shares how Aistetic’s next-generation 3D body modelling platform, accessible through mobile devices, offers online clothing retailers a significant strategic advantage. By increasing conversion rates and lowering returns & excess inventory, Aistetic ultimately contributes to sustainability and reduces waste.

Duncan, a seasoned marketer with experience launching and commercialising products for giants like L’Oréal, Unilever, and Pepsi Lipton, discusses the strategic implications of this technology for e-commerce businesses looking to optimise operations, enhance customer experience, and embrace sustainable practices. Listen now and learn how Aistetic’s cutting-edge computer vision and deep learning technology is providing a competitive edge in the evolving online retail landscape.

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In this episode, we speak with Leo Campbell, Co-Founder of Modern Baker, a company recognised for pioneering truly healthy baked goods in the UK. Leo shares the journey behind Modern Baker’s re-engineered “Superloaf,” a gut-healthy bread now exclusively available at Marks & Spencer and co-manufactured with Hovis.

We discuss the innovative science and technology Modern Baker is applying to transform ultra-processed foods, with plans extending to breakfast cereals, pasta, and more, making them actively healthy. Leo explains the strategic significance of the Modern Baker’s £4 million government grants, including a recent £450,000 award from Innovate UK. He also explores how outsourcing key processes has been vital to their growth.

Listen now to discover how Modern Baker is disrupting the food industry with a purpose-driven mission rooted in the health journey of Leo’s co-founder, Melissa, and hear more about the strategic implications of their innovative approach to food production and market entry.

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