Business Leader

Jack Zhang founded Airwallex in 2015 in Melbourne, Australia. It has now gone global and is valued at more than $6bn by investors. Zhang has moved to London in order to help Airwallex scale globally. He tells Dougal Shaw why there was a unique window of opportunity to build his fintech platform and why traditional banks still have a lot of catching up to do if they want to capitalise on the new revolution in artificial intelligence.Airwallex is a tech-first financial operating system helping businesses scale across borders faster, by doing things like processing international payments. Zhang was born and raised in China but moved to Australia aged 16, without his family, to pursue his education. While working for several large companies as a computer programmer, he also ran multiple side hustles. It was a coffee shop venture that led to the idea for Airwallex, as he encountered the high costs associated with global payments between currencies...

Former England scrum-half, British & Irish Lion and Rugby World Cup winner Matt Dawson joins host Josh Dornbrack for an honest and inspiring conversation about performance, leadership and reinvention. The conversation goes far beyond rugby. Dawson shares how the values forged on the field - discipline, communication, accountability and the idea of “borrowing the shirt” - have shaped his life in the corporate world. Now working with global real-estate firm JLL, he reveals how elite sporting principles can transform businesses, strengthen team culture and help leaders unlock performance in fast-moving environments.

James Reed is the chairman and chief executive of Reed, the recruitment business, which was founded by his father. He has also written a new book called Karma Capitalism, in which he says capitalism needs to change. In this podcast episode, James Reed speaks to Graham Ruddick about building a family business with annual revenues of more than £1 billion and his big ideas about the future of capitalism...

Aron Gelbard is a founder and CEO obsessed with feedback. The business he has built is Bloom & Wild, which made its name with flower delivery but has now expanded into other gifts, such as brownies and whisky. It pioneered the idea of letterbox delivery, where flowers are packaged in flat boxes that can be assembled into bouquets at home. Gelbard tells Dougal Shaw how an obsession with feedback, including A/B Testing and NPS (Net Promoter Score), has been the secret to growing his business, which is now international and has annual revenues of more than £110m. If you truly embrace feedback you can turn disappointed customers into your greatest fans...

Zygi Kamasa is building a new movie business called True Brit, which is focused on British films. Kamasa is the former chief executive of Lionsgate UK and Europe as well as Marv Studios, one of Business Leader's Growth 500, the fastest-growing businesses in the UK. He tells Graham Ruddick the story behind why he is building his own business, the story behind his global hits like Bend it Like Beckham, and how to deal with the setbacks, like turning down blockbusters such as Slumdog Millionaire...

From chart-topping pop star to powerhouse entrepreneur, Rochelle Humes has built a career defined by creativity and reinvention. As the founder and creative director of My Little Coco, one of the UK’s best-selling baby and family brands, Humes has shown how passion and purpose can drive lasting success.In this episode, she opens up about the challenges of starting a business during a global pandemic, learning the power of saying no and building a brand that celebrates inclusivity and family. Humes also shares her lessons on leadership, trusting your instincts and embracing vulnerability as strength.

Autotrader has gone from a dying print magazine to one of the UK's biggest tech businesses. Autotrader made 60 per cent of its revenue from the print magazine in 2007. But today it makes nothing from the magazine, having stopped it in 2013. Yet Autotrader is now a much bigger business. It is part of the FTSE 100 and valued at £7bn. So how did this extraordinary transformation take place? Graham Ruddick speaks to Nathan Coe, chief executive of Autotrader, to find out...

Francesca Brown is the award-winning founder of Goals4Girls and a champion of female youth development. She has turned her love of football into a transformative programme that empowers girls aged 11-16 in marginalised communities, boosting their confidence, leadership skills and educational outcomes. Josh Dornbrack and Lucy McPhee dive into her journey from aspiring athlete to social impact pioneer, her vision for sustainable development pathways and the unique role sport plays in unlocking opportunity.If you’re a founder, executive or aspiring leader seeking tangible inspiration from outside of the boardroom, this episode will leave you equipped with both mindset shifts and actionable takeaways. From leveraging networks and finding mentors, to creating a culture of opportunity and designing programmes with real-world impact, Brown's journey is a powerful case study in leadership, social enterprise and growth.

How do you make the big strategic decisions that will define the future of your business? How do you gather the information to make that decision? Simon Carter, chief executive of British Land, one of the biggest property companies in the UK, bet on offices when many said that office-working was dead. Graham Ruddick speaks to Simon Carter about making that contrarian decision, running a FTSE company and the future of shopping, with British Land owning retail parks across the country as part of its £10bn portfolio...