Women Are Good Business

Female finance expert Roxanne Goodman joins us for a powerful, myth‑busting conversation about money, funding, and the realities facing women in business. Roxanne shares her unconventional journey from qualified nursery teacher to 20‑years‑deep commercial finance broker, explaining how she “fell into finance by accident” and later founded Female Founder Finance after noticing the “lack of women that we were dealing with” in the industry. Her mission now is to close the knowledge and access gap for women entrepreneurs who are building brilliant businesses but often lack the networks, language, or support that male‑led companies take for granted.We dive into the real barriers women face—from confidence gaps to networking limitations to the simple truth that “you don’t know what you don’t know.” Roxanne breaks down the finance jargon that often intimidates founders, sharing stories of women who were offered the wrong products, misunderstood by banks, or left without guidance until they reached crisis point. She explains why cashflow is queen, why overdrafts rarely solve the real problem, and how products like invoice finance, trade finance, and supply‑chain funding can transform a business when used correctly. Her examples—like founders stuck with high‑cost short‑term loans when they actually needed invoice finance—shine a light on how costly the knowledge gap can be.Roxanne also champions the importance of community, collaboration, and asking questions without fear. She highlights the rise of women‑only networking groups, the value of scrappy resourcefulness, and the role of CDFIs—Community Development Finance Institutions—in supporting underserved founders with more accessible funding options. This episode is a masterclass in financial empowerment, packed with clarity, compassion, and practical tools every founder should know. Whether you're scaling, starting, or simply trying to understand the money side of your business, Roxanne’s insights will leave you informed, inspired, and ready to take action.

Laura Brunton is the business and mindset coach whose energy hits you the moment she walks into a room — and whose journey from a North East council estate to a multi–six‑figure coaching company is anything but ordinary. As she tells Sam, the turning point came when she realised, “I was literally giving this company all of my good Laura energy — and my husband and my kids were getting the dregs of what was left.” Leaving corporate wasn’t the plan, but it became the catalyst for everything that followed.In this episode, Laura opens up about building a business during an unplanned pregnancy, navigating financial pressure as the sole breadwinner, and discovering that necessity can be the sharpest strategy of all. “Failure is not an option,” she says — not as a slogan, but as a lived reality. She shares how showing up online as her full, unfiltered self became her superpower, why authenticity is non‑negotiable, and how fifteen years in HR quietly prepared her for entrepreneurship.We also dive into money, mindset and the myths women inherit about worth. Laura talks candidly about growing up around scarcity, learning to love money unapologetically, and why women must talk openly about pricing, budgets and revenue. From walking through London in her bra and knickers to selling out Ignited Woman events, Laura’s story is a masterclass in bravery, alignment and taking action before you feel ready. Her message for every woman listening: “You are enough.”

In this episode, Gilly Ridley Whittle — founder of Peach House — shares how she stepped out of a 25‑year corporate career and into the unknown. She opens up about the fear of losing her job when Topshop went into administration and the unexpected redundancy payout that became the launchpad for her entrepreneurial leap. As she says, “I honestly had no idea how I was going to make this happen… I was terrified” .Gilly reflects on the harsh reality of launching a sustainable underwear brand into a declining market — from cash‑flow crises to failed wholesale attempts. A single retailer meeting became the breaking point: “I literally… lost it. I am not being beholden to anyone” . That moment sparked a full reset, revealing what had been working all along: bra fitting. From festivals to pop‑ups to workplace activations, every event proved the same thing — women were desperate for comfort, confidence, and proper fit.What followed was a bold pivot into a service‑led bra‑fitting model, now entering corporate workplaces to tackle women’s health, productivity, and wellbeing. Julie shares how she convinced her investor, built a scalable framework, and stepped into a mission far bigger than product — “We’re building a movement… I’m going to be the number one bra‑fit service in the UK in 18 months” . It’s a conversation about intuition, resilience, reinvention, and turning up exactly where women are.

Female experts Nonie White and Yvonne Biggins join Sam to unpack their research into the real cost of entrepreneurship for women. Their own journeys — spanning filmmaking, teaching, tech startups, coaching and positive psychology — led them to interview and survey 215 female founders, revealing a powerful truth: women are experiencing extreme stress and burnout, yet still report high levels of joy, purpose and satisfaction in the work they do.Their findings highlight the physical and emotional toll: 83% reported high stress, over half had experienced burnout, and many struggled with sleeplessness, low mood and reduced exercise. With most respondents juggling caregiving, domestic load and often perimenopause, the pressures compound. A quarter identified as neurodiverse, with ADHD founders experiencing even higher stress levels — all pointing to a system that demands more than it supports.But the research also uncovered the “positive deviants” — founders who thrive despite facing the same challenges. Their blueprint is simple but powerful: regular exercise, meaningful support from peers or coaches, prioritising joy and recovery, practising mindfulness, managing negative thinking and spending intentional time in nature. The red thread is self‑awareness — remembering you’re a whole person, not just a business engine — and building wellbeing as the foundation for sustainable performance.

Grace Hardy’s story is anything but traditional. Diagnosed with dyslexia young and dismissed by an education system that didn’t know what to do with her, she found her entrepreneurial spark early — selling American sweets from her school locker at 12. By 21, she’d quit her corporate accounting job with no clients, no plan, and three months of savings, giving herself a deadline to make it work. As she told us, she downloaded a business plan, posted on LinkedIn, and started talking about money in a way people actually understood — and within three months, she’d matched her salary.Today, Grace runs seven businesses, reaches over four million people, and has been recognised as Forbes 30 Under 30, Accountancy Personality of the Year, and more. Her journey spans Hardy Accounting, a cross‑border e‑commerce consultancy, a financial education arm delivering free talks in London schools, and even a student banking app in development. She’s spoken at the House of Commons and the House of Lords, met the Royal Family, and is lobbying for better financial education nationwide — all while making accounting feel human, accessible, and stigma‑free.In this episode, Grace opens up about dyslexia as her superpower, the Morocco trip where she wrote every SOP in her business, the burnout that forced her to learn delegation, and the realities of being a young female founder in rooms not built for her. Her advice to her younger self — and to every woman listening — is simple: care less about what others think, start before you feel ready, and back yourself, because you are the USP.

Lyndsey Simpson, Founder & CEO of 55/Redefined, joins us to unpack why age strategy is now one of the biggest growth levers in business. After rehiring 400 retirees in eight weeks, she uncovered a truth most organisations overlook: retirement is breaking people, and the over‑50 workforce is the most undervalued economic force in the UK. Her upcoming book, The Age Rebellion, dives even deeper into this shift — and listeners can access an exclusive discount using code AGEREBEL. We explore the Rainbow of Retirement, the emotional crash that hits many within 12–18 months of leaving work, and why longevity has added decades to our lives without workplaces evolving to match. Lyndsey shares how she pivoted her business, what she’s learned across eight ventures, and why listening — not defending your original idea — is the real founder superpower.From the brutal funding reality facing female founders to a masterclass in building teams that scale, this episode is a wake‑up call for leaders. If you don’t have an age strategy, you don’t have a growth strategy — and Lyndsey shows exactly why.

In the first episode of Women Are Good Business, we dive into why the system isn’t broken — it simply wasn’t built for women.Hannah Bernard OBE, Group Director of Business Banking at Nationwide and Co‑Chair of the UK Government’s Invest in Women Taskforce, shares insights from decades supporting over one million SMEs and leading major banking transformations.Karen Rudich, serial entrepreneur, fintech founder and one of the Top 100 Female Entrepreneurs to Watch, brings the founder perspective — revealing how Sherloc is giving SMEs the real‑time financial intelligence big corporates rely on.This episode explores:Female founders + funding gapsSME financial intelligence and data accessWhy traditional systems disadvantage womenHow tech, mutual banking and policy can shift the landscapePerfect for founders, leaders, investors and anyone building in a system that wasn’t designed for them.Follow, subscribe and share — Women Are Good Business.

Women Are Good Business is the podcast making the economic case for female entrepreneurship in the UK.The argument is clear: female-led businesses deliver stronger returns, are less likely to go bankrupt, and outperform their male-founded equivalents across virtually every financial measure. This channel exists to change that — one conversation at a time.Each episode brings together the founders, investors, policymakers and advocates who are rewriting the rules of business in the UK. Real stories, hard data, and the proof that backing women is the single best investment this country can make.Hosted by Sam Cooper-Gray, Chair of the Gender Index, and lead of the Conditions to Scale workstream for the UK Government's Invest in Women Taskforce.New episodes every week from 20th May 2026.Subscribe and join the growing community who know that women are good business — and are doing something about it.womenaregoodbusiness.com@womenaregoodbusinessFuelled by FFInc