The Small Business Sessions

Welcome to Small Business Sessions, brought to you by Enterprise Nation as part of Powering Local Businesses, our collaboration with EDF Small Business and Square.
In this series, we're speaking to founders and entrepreneurs about the real stories behind starting, growing and rebuilding small businesses.
Expect honest conversations, practical lessons and first-hand insight from people who have built businesses with purpose.
In this episode of the series, we're joined by Dee Omole, founder of Dee's Basement, a confectionery studio specialising in nostalgia-inspired cakes and desserts.
Dee shares how a final-year university project at the University of Westminster became the foundation for Dee's Basement. 
She turned a pandemic‑lost pastry job into a thriving, community‑driven DIY cookie and dessert brand by leveraging affordable pop‑up spaces, relentless social‑media engagement, and small‑batch creativity to grow sustainably while maintaining personal control over her work.
What began as postal cookies and hand-painted madeleines has grown into a business that counts Pinterest and Liberty London among its brand partners.
Dee talks about building a loyal community on social media, learning to spot brands that want free work in exchange for "exposure," expanding from a home kitchen to a commercial kitchen, and writing her first cookbook with Quadrille, an imprint of Penguin.
Topics discussed in the episode:
How Dee built an online following, partly through the extra visibility black-owned businesses gained during the Black Lives Matter movement
Winning brand partnerships with the likes of Pinterest and Liberty London by pitching ideas rather than simply offering catering 
Learning to spot brands offering "exposure" instead of payment while going viral with 12 million TikTok views from a video of her washing a fake display cake
Running sold-out pop-up cafés in a neighbouring unit borrowed from her sister, and hosting small, intimate cake-decorating workshops
Writing and publishing her cookbook, A Little of What You Fancy, with Quadrille, which was built around small-batch recipes designed to reduce waste for beginner bakers
Learning to say no and protecting her wellbeing
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Powering Local Businesses
We're helping small businesses thrive on the high street – through expert support, smart energy advice and practical tools to grow sustainably.
Get free support now

Welcome to Small Business Sessions, brought to you by Enterprise Nation as part of Powering Local Businesses, our collaboration with EDF Small Business and Square.
In this series, we're speaking to founders and entrepreneurs about the real stories behind starting, growing and rebuilding small businesses.
Expect honest conversations, practical lessons and first-hand insight from people who have built businesses with purpose.
In this episode of the series, we're joined by Usman Khalid, founder of Haven Coffee, an organic coffee brand and social enterprise with a mission to challenge false narratives about refugees in the UK.
Usman shares how his own experience as a refugee, his work with Counterpoints Arts and support from The Entrepreneurial Refugee Network helped him develop the idea for Haven Coffee.
He talks about building a business with no previous experience, starting with weekend market stalls, opening a small coffee shop and using coffee, barista training, comedy and visual art to create opportunities for refugees and asylum seekers.
Topics discussed in the episode:
How Usman's experience of gaining refugee status in 2015 shaped the idea behind Haven Coffee
Why Haven Coffee is a business first, not a charity, even though social impact is central to its purpose
Starting with weekend market stalls and coffee sales at events before opening a physical shop
The reality of running a very small physical coffee shop and the challenge of trying to grow when income is limited
How Usman created Laff-Uccino, a comedy event that trains refugees and asylum seekers in stand-up comedy
Working with high-profile comedians including Nish Kumar and Ed Gamble to bring audiences to the events
Providing barista training for refugees and asylum seekers so they can build practical skills for employment
The role of supportive people, artists, comedians and local networks in helping Haven Coffee keep going
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Powering Local Businesses
We're helping small businesses thrive on the high street – through expert support, smart energy advice and practical tools to grow sustainably.
Get free support now

Welcome to Small Business Sessions, brought to you by Enterprise Nation as part of Powering Local Businesses, our collaboration with EDF Small Business and Square.
In this series, we're speaking to founders and entrepreneurs about the real stories behind starting, growing and rebuilding small businesses.
Expect honest conversations, practical lessons and first-hand insight from people who have built businesses with purpose.
In this episode of the series, we're joined by Charlie Duckworth, founder of Community Sauna Baths, the not-for-profit social enterprise making sauna and cold plunge more affordable and accessible across London.
Charlie shares how the idea came together after the pandemic, why he wanted to create a regular, community-focused sauna experience outside of expensive gyms and spas, and how the business grew from a low-cost garden site into a five-site operation.
He also talks about operating as a community interest company, working with local authorities, funding outreach sessions and building a wider movement through the Community Sauna Network.
Topics discussed in the episode:
Why Charlie wanted to create a regular sauna experience that focused on heat, cold and social connection
Setting up as a community interest company and why the not-for-profit model mattered from the start
Finding a landlord willing to take a chance on the idea and starting in a low-fi garden space
Funding new sites through pre-sale tickets, discounted sessions, small loans and reinvested income
How Community Sauna Baths uses paid tickets to fund outreach, free sessions and local community work
Working with the NHS through social prescribing and bringing people into sauna through GP referrals
Charlie's ambition to bring community sauna facilities to every London borough by 2030
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Powering Local Businesses
We're helping small businesses thrive on the high street – through expert support, smart energy advice and practical tools to grow sustainably.
Get free support now

Welcome to Small Business Sessions, brought to you by Enterprise Nation as part of Powering Local Businesses, our collaboration with EDF Small Business and Square.
In this series, we're speaking to founders and entrepreneurs about the real stories behind starting, growing and rebuilding small businesses.
Expect honest conversations, practical lessons and first-hand insight from people who have built businesses with purpose.
In this episode, we're joined by Jade Georgiou, co-founder of Hackney Barkers, the dog grooming business built around community, care and ethical products.
Jade shares how she left her job as a receptionist to train as a dog groomer, later opening her own salon in Hackney after spotting what felt like the perfect sign – an Irish Terrier in the window of the premises.
She talks about the realities of running a physical business, learning to set boundaries with customers, supporting other local dog businesses and building a salon where dogs, owners and staff feel properly looked after.
Topics discussed in the episode:
Why growing up in an entrepreneurial family made opening a salon feel like a natural next step
Building the shop with family help and putting personal money, pride and energy into the space
The early challenge of saying yes to every customer and learning to set proper business rules 
Taking on the first employee and realising the business needed stronger processes
Why community is central to Hackney Barkers, from referrals to sharing local businesses' services
Offering free grooming for unhoused people's dogs and why Jade wants the business to help beyond paying customers
How Jade chooses local and ethical suppliers that align with Hackney Barkers' ethos
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Powering Local Businesses
We're helping small businesses thrive on the high street – through expert support, smart energy advice and practical tools to grow sustainably.
Get free support now

Welcome to Small Business Sessions, brought to you by Enterprise Nation as part of Powering Local Businesses, our collaboration with EDF Small Business and Square.
In this series, we're speaking to founders and entrepreneurs about the real stories behind starting, growing and rebuilding small businesses.
Expect honest conversations, practical lessons and first-hand insight from people who have built businesses with purpose.
In this episode, we're joined by Max Tobias, co-founder of The Dusty Knuckle, one of London's best-known bakery businesses.
Max shares how his experience working with young people in the youth justice system led to the idea for a bakery that could create real opportunities for people facing barriers to employment.
He talks about starting small, growing from a shipping container and building a business whose product has to stand on its own while the social impact sits at the heart of the company.
Topics discussed in the episode:
How Max's background in youth intervention and youth justice shaped the idea for his business
Using a local restaurant's pizza oven early in the morning to test the product and build demand
How The Dusty Knuckle's youth employment programme supports young people coming from custody, care, insecure housing and other difficult circumstances
Training the wider team to support young people without making the programme feel separate from the business
What it's like running a bakery business in 2026, including rising costs, early starts and the pressure on hospitality
Why Max wants the business to become a London community asset people genuinely care about
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Powering Local Businesses
We're helping small businesses thrive on the high street – through expert support, smart energy advice and practical tools to grow sustainably.
Get free support now