Nothing was off limits at BusinessCloud’s latest Northern Leaders event.
The audience at KPMG’s offices in Leeds heard from 16 speakers in a whistlestop 90-minute discussion about the realities of being an entrepreneur in 2025
Thirteen of the names from BusinessCloud’s Northern Leaders Futures list were joined by Dragons’ Den star Lucie Macleod, The Apprentice candidate Keir Shave and Ben Taylor, head of TMT M&A in Yorkshire and North East at KPMG.
The event – Northern Leaders: Meet the New Generation of Entrepreneur (NGE) – discussed a range of issues including juggling parenthood with business; the impact of AI; bootstrapping vs raising investment; importance of passion; and turning adversity into an opportunity.
Here are some highlights:
Ben Taylor, head of TMT M&A in Yorkshire and North East at KPMG, reported that there were signs of recovery in the TMT sector, especially in the digital transformation, data and cyber security space. He said KPMG UK’s TMT M&A team had recently completed nine different deals in nine weeks, with deal sizes ranging from £20m to £750m.
Sid Sethi is the managing director of Specscart, which is one of the UK’s fastest-growing eyewear businesses. He launched the business in 2018 and is on track for a 2024 turnover of £5m. He said entrepreneurs had a perception issue because people didn’t see the hard work and sacrifices that are made. He also spoke about how he’d bootstrapped his business.
Sarah Bateman is the CEO of Unify Energy, which has reached a turnover of £60m with 18 staff. She spoke about the balancing act of working on the business versus working in your business. Bateman is a big supporter of women in business and is just about to go on maternity leave.
Kelly Weston is the COO of Leeds-based The Data City, which last year raised £2m in a deal that valued the business at £19m. She spoke about how being in North was helping attract the top talent.
Georgia Kirke is the founder of ClioBooks.ai and shared some of her investment experiences of being a female founder. She also opened up about being a non-technical founder who set up a tech business. ClioBooks.ai’s technology can reduce the time it takes to produce a book by up to 95 per cent.
The Apprentice candidate Keir Shave talks to Chris Maguire
Keir Shave is best known as being a candidate on The Apprentice and he spoke powerfully about the pros and cons of being on the hit BBC show. He’s the CEO of Leeds-based Parallel Partnerships, which he launched just three days after being made redundant.
Danny Simpson is the managing director of Sales Geek and was previously CEO of MID Group and MID Communications. He spoke about the importance of passion and culture in business and the value of networking.
Jonathan Saatchi is the managing director of Manchester-based strategic marketing communications agency MC2, which is now employee-owned. He spoke about the importance of branding and how the agency was approaching the challenge of AI.
Nuraz Zamal is the founder/CEO of IMS Technologies and spoke about how he set up his business after injury ended his career as a professional footballer. The Oldham businessman has grown the company to 40 staff and £15m ARR and hoped his story would inspire the next generation of Asian entrepreneurs.
Investor Daniel Beaumont is the former MD of Bill Beaumont Textiles and has bought five businesses in the last five years, including four manufacturers. He said his sweet spot was established companies where the founders were looking to retire.
Lucie Macleod, CEO of Hair Syrup, talks about her appearance on Dragons’ Den
One of the powerful interviews on the night was Lucie Macleod, CEO / founder of Hair Syrup. She came up with the idea for the business in 2019 while a student at the University of Warwick after becoming frustrated with her frazzled, dry and damaged hair. She posted a video on TikTok and it immediately went viral. Macleod revealed how she was approached to pitch on Dragons’ Den and spoke about how she dealt with leaving the Den with zero investment and being at the centre of a media storm.
Beckie Taylor is the co-founder of Empower and spoke out after entrepreneur Davina Schonle was turned away from London Tech Week because she was with her baby daughter. She also revealed how she was self-funding a documentary about 10 women in tech to plot their journey.
One of the most memorable speakers at the event was Vimla Appadoo, co-founder and chief culture officer of Honey Badger, who was joined on stage by her five-month-old son Adi. She spoke about the realities of running a business as a parent and her experiences of being a person of colour. She’s trying to make it easier for parents to return to work and spoke about her new project ‘Making Matresence Work.’
Brett Mendell is the managing director of Thomas Kneale and was awarded the MBE for sustainability in last week’s Kings Birthday Honours. The business is nearly 80 years old and has a turnover of between £8m-£9m. He spoke about how he was driven by just doing the right thing.
Danny Manu is the founder of translation earphones business, MyManu, and spoke about the importance of being persistent in business. He recently met the vice president of Ghana and has launched a new venture called Myjono.
Nick Richardson founded The Insights Family in 2017, which now has 50 staff and a turnover of £5m. He said the true potential of the North is not being leveraged because of the poor transport infrastructure.