Female founders share the secrets to their success

Entrepreneurs know that growing a business can feel like an all-encompassing task. But it’s vital for founders to find the time to manage their personal finances as well.

Rothschild & Co was delighted to welcome dozens of female founders to New Court for an event to celebrate successful female-led businesses and share practical advice with others.

The event was hosted in partnership with Buy Women Built, a campaign to mobilise consumers to buy from female-founded businesses.

Before the event we caught up with the founders of three companies – Melanie Lawson, of health supplements brand Bare Biology, Alla Ouvarova and Anna Richey, of liquid egg white company Two Chicks, and Cécile Reinaud, who founded maternity fashion label Seraphine.

Each shared some of the secrets to their success and discussed key choices they made as they launched and then scaled their business. You’ll find those video interviews on this page alongside practical guidance from Rothschild & Co’s wealth management and global advisory businesses.

Anna Richey who, alongside her co-founder Alla Ouvarova, successfully launched Two Chicks into Britain’s biggest supermarkets said: “When we first launched the business and scaled it, it was hard to know whether we'd even get into one retailer. So it was just [a case of] putting one foot in front of the other and being really driven with it.”

Melanie Lawson said that founders needed persistence to grow a business successfully and that growth would come with time. “It takes a very long time to build a business, and you can’t build it overnight,” she said.

Cécile Reinaud, who successfully sold Seraphine in December 2020, said it was important to consider an exit plan as early as possible. “You almost think about it when you write the business plan,” she said. “You need to have a long-term vision of where you’re going to go and present that to your investors.”

Samantha Gough, of Rothschild & Co’s global advisory business, worked on the Seraphine sale. She added: “It's really important to have a good adviser base around you, be that a wealth manager for your personal side of it, be that an adviser on the corporate finance side, or a lawyer or accountant.”