After spotting a gap in the market, Stu Jolley and Simon Forster started a beauty brand with a difference; instead of creating products based on people’s insecurities, they would meet people’s genuine needs. They launched their first products in 2016 – a range of tattoo skin care now called Stories & Ink, and The Others Beauty Co. was born. We caught up with Stu and Simon about why they started their beauty business, the gap they saw in the industry, and why they recently pivoted to DTC despite successfully being stocked on retail shelves.
My journey as an entrepreneur began, like many other entrepreneurs, with the realisation of a major and entrenched problem. In 2014, while working in the Medical Devices team at the World Health Organisation (WHO), I became aware of the magnitude of the global childhood pneumonia challenge. I was shocked that in the 21st century, a treatable condition still takes the lives of 1 million young children every year and is the number one killer of children under five years old globally.
WeWork, the global flexible workspace provider, has this week opened applications to its new Diverse Founders Programme in collaboration with award-winning social enterprise, Foundervine. The programme, available to both existing WeWork members and non-members, will provide founders from ethnically diverse minority backgrounds access to 100 WeWork Labs memberships through its community Labs platform, as well as hot desk spaces, starting in January 2021.
WorkClub workspaces support hospitality venues, co-working hubs and pubs, to drive more footfall during day-time hours. These venue hosts become neighbourhood workspaces, allowing WorkClub members to work closer to home, supporting the local ecosystem around the corner from their homes. We spoke to Nick Donnelly of WorkClub to find out more about them.
Lockdown changed the rulebook for how we live and work, for all of us. As entrepreneurs, we have the in-built advantage that we’re wired to manage uncertainty and finding solutions is our happy place. Only this time, it was without the backdrop of our gloriously airy EC2 co-working space, surrounded by my talented team and fuelled by yummy flat whites from the local coffee shop. It was happening from my home-office, in isolation, in a London that was quickly becoming unfamiliar.
The line between dreaming about your perfect business and actually running a killer corporation is not a huge gap – it is a simple step. Sadly, a lot of people get stuck on their idea. They dream about what could be, without ever focusing on achieving their goals. If you also have a great passion and an amazing idea, then make sure not to be one of these people. All you need is to divide your process into smaller, easier to handle bits. Doing so will help you tackle them more eagerly, and deal with the tasks as they come. Today, we take a look at five essential steps needed to stop dreaming – and start doing.
There is no denying that 2020 has been an extremely difficult year for the healthcare industry. COVID-19 continues to bring challenges to the delivery of all aspects of hospital and community care and the need for innovation has, arguably, never been greater. Fortunately, the healthtech ecosystem in the UK is as vibrant as ever and entrepreneurs across the space have responded by working tirelessly to solve the problems thrust upon clinicians and patients.












