How satisfying would it be to make a positive difference to people’s health and build a successful business? That’s the position Katherine Swift found herself in, when her mum was diagnosed with breast cancer and she felt an urge to help.

Katherine’s quest led her to support ground-breaking research that highlighted the benefits of antioxidants in our diets. Green tea is renowned for its healing properties due to its abundance of antioxidants and organic matcha green tea was the perfect fit.

And so OMGTea was born. A specialist matcha company with a very big heart, a percentage of OMGTea’s profits have been pledged to The Healthy Life Foundation, a charity founded by Katherine that funds research into age-related diseases.

I found my conversation with Katherine fascinating and uplifting, hearing how she built her business across continents, driven by her passion to improve health.

Overview

In our conversation, Katherine:

• Explains what matcha is all about; its history, its health benefits and the production process.
• Talks through her brand name and the Japanese origin of the word ‘matcha’.
• Details OMGTea’s business to business and business to consumer routes to market.
• Elaborates on the product range of teas and accessories.
• Discusses the personnel involved in running the business, and resources they outsource.
• Focuses on the impact of exchange rates between the Yen and the Pound, import duties and Brexit.
• Expands on OMGTea’s origin story.
• Stresses that doing something she believes in means more than financial gain.
• Explores the process of acquiring funds in the early days, and how she handled one product’s failure.
• Outlines her goals for OMGTea over the next three to five years.
• Compares her brand to key competitors, and her experience on Dragon’s Den.
• Shares key learnings from her time in business.

Beesou is an all-natural, bitter honey aperitif blended from ethically-sourced British honey and natural botanicals. As Mark enthuses, Beesou is a drink with a purpose. Their mission is to save bees by raising awareness about how important they are to the planet.

Did you know that, if bees were to become extinct, humans would only survive for four years!

Proud to be B-Corp certified, Beesou reflects a dedication to environmental and social responsibility and actively supporting bee conservation. They also give 10% of all profits to their partner charity, ‘Bees for Development’.

With no artificial colours, Beesou’s beautiful yellow hue is naturally extracted from safflower.

Mark and his Co-Founder, best friend Andre, went on quite the quest developing Beesou.

I really enjoyed talking with Mark about the experiences he’s had whilst creating and building this successful boutique brand.

Overview

In our conversation, Mark:

• Describes how Beesou came to be and why they chose to focus on one product.
• Talks about how and why their distribution channels have evolved, from premium bars to online, direct to consumer sales.
• Explains interesting branding issues involving bees, Manchester and London
• Lists some of the ways Beesou lives and breathes its strong ethical stance regarding bees, championing their survival.
• Opens up about his career background and what sparked the move to go into business.
• Discusses the experimental process that led to the final product.
• Goes into detail about funding, investment and expansion.
• Observes the fact that the product’s quality is the essential key to its success, no matter how positive customers are about the company’s ethical practices.
• Shines a light on the B-Corp process and how integral it was to the company’s goals.
• Expands on the product’s manufacturing process and where the ingredients are sourced.
• Sets out his dreams for Beesou to be considered a ‘must have’ product in bars across the UK, and his goals for the business.
• Shares lessons learned since starting the business.

‘Wave maker’, Nick Hounsfield, is the Founder of The Wave, an inland slice of the ocean he’s created to provide a world first: a health and wellbeing focused surfing destination in Bristol. He secured £30m investment to develop and deliver the project as a Triple Bottom Line business - People, Planet and Profit. It’s also B Corp certified.

Nick has over 30 years’ experience in healthcare, science, conservation and education. He has also founded One Blue World, to channel his passion for advancing the BlueHealth movement. Through One Blue World he explores the cognitive, emotional, psychological, social and physical wellness benefits of water, waves and nature.

Working with a network of interdisciplinary experts, partners, and supporters who share this vision, they provide critical ‘blue’ thinking for projects, developments and organisations.

It was a breath of fresh air and incredibly inspirational talking to Nick about what he has achieved, and how.

Overview:

In our conversation, Nick

• Explains what The Wave is all about – a lake in Bristol as big as three or four Olympic-sized swimming pools.
• Describes the logistics behind creating waves, and how The Wave has been designed to be suitable for all ages and skill levels.
• Expands on how surfers use the lake – one hour of surfing time equates to four or five hours in the ocean.
• Talks through The Wave’s business model.
• Outlines the cash flow challenges of running a seasonal business.
• Details how they’ve made efforts to widen their demographic and ensure that everyone feels comfortable.
• Delves into where it all began and how he raised the eye-watering £30m set-up costs.
• Focuses on the importance of laying the right foundations and building strong connections when structuring the business.
• Discusses planning permission issues they faced.
• Enthuses about the day ‘the tap was finally turned on’.
• Shares his thoughts about possible expansion and being driven by the concept of ‘Blue Health’.
• Passes on to new entrepreneurs his most fundamental key learning.