Getting Into Retail: The Founders’ Story

Are you a product-based founder ready to conquer retail but not sure where to start? We’ve got you, with our brand new series of events aimed at helping you get closer to realising your retail dreams.

Kicking off this series of events, we’ve brought together four incredible women who have cracked the code on landing coveted retail partnerships. Discover their secrets, challenges, and triumphs as they share their journeys from product to shelf for yet another fantastic event.

We’re taking over Minima, one of Birmingham’s most stunning retail spaces, for the evening and giving you the chance to hear from:

Rose Ovensehi, who founded Flora & Curl in 2017 out of a personal quest to find gentle, all-natural remedies for textured hair. After growing frustrated with the low-quality and questionable ingredients found in many haircare products on the market, Rose took matters into her own hands, sourcing nutrient-dense ingredients from around the world and crafting recipes in her mum’s kitchen. Her products are now stocked worldwide, including the likes of Boots, Superdrug, and LOOKFANTASTIC.

Laura Vann, who founded V by Laura Vann in 2013 after noticing a gap in the market for timeless stone-set jewellery that was high quality yet accessible. Joining her father’s 30-year established jewellery business on the outskirts of the Jewellery Quarter, she set out to modernise art deco jewellery, making it available to a wider market. Today, V’s demi-fine collections are stocked by some of the finest retailers worldwide including Selfridges, Liberty, Harvey Nichols, and Fortnum & Mason.

Bryony Redgrave, the founder of Vesta Sustainable Living, a sustainable homeware brand, established in 2018 in response to the problem of single use plastic products in our environment. Vesta produces reusable organic cotton wipes and, to date, has diverted over 4 million items of single use plastics from landfill by simply allowing customers to replace their disposables everyday household products with reusable products that have the same function. Their products can be found in the award-winning farm shop, Daylesford, as well as Abel and Cole.

Paramjit Nagra, co-founder of Crazy Gin, took a drunken idea and turned it into a successful brand in just 12 months, launching nationwide with Harvey Nichols. Motivated by a desire to authentically represent Indian flavours, she and her husband created Crazy Gin in 2016 to celebrate their British Indian heritage. Within six months, they sold their London home, quit their jobs, and established their own distillery in Wolverhampton. Their innovative, flavour-packed gins were named amongst The Observer’s Top 50 Food and Drink Brands.

You’ll be greeted by a welcome drink, with the chance to network with your fellow founders whilst browsing Minima’s stunning furniture and homewares accessories. We’ll then sit down to hear from Rose, Laura, Bryony, and Paramjit, who will share their open experiences of the retail landscape, with plenty of time for you to ask your burning questions during the Q&A.

Don’t miss out – register today and join us for this incredible brunch: CLICK HERE. 

If you haven’t already, you can sign up to The 51% Club here. 

Huge thank you to Minima for being our event sponsor.