How Two 23-Year-Old History Graduates Built a Thriving Gardening Business

What if the problem isn't your brain — but the environment it's asked to work in?

Ellie Craig has been leading since she was fifteen. In this episode of Leaders in Business, Marlene Lowe sits down with the Chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament — elected as an MSYP for Glasgow Cathcart at fifteen (so convinced she'd lost that she skipped the election count), and now a veteran of seven years in Scotland's democratic and charity spaces. Fresh from graduating in politics and sociology from the University of Glasgow, Ellie has chaired an entirely youth-led board, joined the UK board of the National Lottery Community Fund, and just started a new role with the David Hume Institute. Ellie speaks with remarkable honesty about what it's like being a "professional young person" — often the youngest in the room by twenty years, navigating assumptions, judgement and a no-win tension: told she's not experienced enough to be taken seriously, then told she's too polished to be authentically young. She reflects on how imposter syndrome shaped her leadership, and her realisation that self-belief isn't vanity — it's what allows you to genuinely lift other people up. There's real depth here too. Ellie shares how losing her mum in 2021, having been her young carer, gave her advocacy a deeply personal foundation — and how the support networks around the Scottish Youth Parliament carried her through. She and Marlene explore intergenerational leadership, the lessons we're forgetting from COVID, why "hard to reach" is a myth ("everyone's easy to reach if you look in the right places"), and what it means to build systems for generations you'll never meet. It's a conversation about values-led decisions, knowing when to say yes and when to say no, and separating who you are from what you achieve — wisdom that took most of us decades longer to find.

Marianne McJannett is one of the rare people who knew what she wanted to do from a young age — and is still doing it today. Now an employment law partner at Aberdein Considine, leading the firm's employment offering in Glasgow as part of a team spanning Scotland and Northern England, she has spent her career seeing leadership at its very best and its very worst. In this episode of Leaders in Business, Marianne joins Marlene Lowe to unpick one of the most common threads running through her casework: talented people promoted into management without ever being taught how to lead. From mishandled return-to-work meetings to grievances that could have been avoided entirely, she explains why almost every dispute she sees has a leadership or managerial failing at its heart — and why investing in ongoing management training is always cheaper than the alternative. But this conversation goes far beyond the law. Marianne dispels the myth that legal life is glamorous (sorry, Suits fans), shares why storytelling drew her to employment law in the first place, and opens up about the reality of the juggle — partnership, parenthood, and the question she gets asked weekly that men in her position rarely hear: "How do you do it all?" Her answer is refreshingly honest: she doesn't. She prioritises, she says no, and she's learned that that's okay. Along the way there's charity ballroom dancing in front of 500 people, a reading habit that has replaced television, and a reminder that behind every corporate facade is a whole person worth getting to know.

Peter Vardy is a name most people in Scotland will recognise — but far fewer know the story behind it. In this episode of Leaders in Business, Marlene Lowe is joined by co-host Catherine McWilliam, Scotland Director at the Institute of Directors, for a conversation with the entrepreneur behind one of Scotland's best-known motor retail businesses. Peter shares his journey from a childhood spent serving petrol on the family forecourt in the north east of England — where customers were occasionally found eating his dinner — to buying his first dealership in Perth at 27 and building his own group across Scotland over the following two decades. But this is a conversation about far more than cars. Peter opens up about the moment a leadership conference in Chicago changed his thinking forever — "leadership is a lifelong journey" — and how that shaped a business built on values: one uniform for everyone, performance reviews weighted equally on behaviour and results, a blank £100 cheque handed to every new colleague on day one, and a commitment to give 10% of profits away. The results of that commitment are extraordinary. Peter tells the story of a school opening in Uganda that grew into a programme supporting 25,000 children, an email from Cambodia answered by a giving pot containing the exact sum needed, and the COVID decision to keep paying colleagues even if it cost him everything. Along the way there are lessons from his father's "war on waste", a Formula One paddock, and Alison on front reception — proof that you don't need a job title to be a leader. The conversation culminates in The Calling, the values-based leadership event Peter is bringing to Glasgow's Armadillo — inspired by the conferences that shaped him, and built on a simple belief: everyone has influence, and Scotland's story should be one of saying yes.

In this episode of Leaders in Business, host Marlene Lowe speaks with Joyce Onuonga, Managing Director of John White & Son Weighing Machines Limited, about her remarkable journey from Kenya to Scotland and from teacher to custodian of Scotland's oldest family business. Joyce's story is one of resilience, cultural adaptation, and breaking barriers in ways she never anticipated. Starting as a high school teacher in Kenya, Joyce moved into business before following her husband to Scotland. After struggling to find teaching work despite registering with the teaching council, she pursued various jobs, earned an MBA, and eventually accepted what was supposed to be a six-month temporary placement at John White & Son. Nearly 30 years later, she's still there—having progressed from business development manager to general manager to becoming the company's first female manager in its nearly 300-year history. The conversation reveals the profound challenge Joyce faced as a woman of colour in a male-dominated industry. Her first achievement, she says, was convincing colleagues to look past her gender and race to hear her ideas. This required patience, persistence, and surrounding herself with supporters who encouraged her to "wipe the dust away and stand up" when faced with resistance. In 2017, Joyce completed a management buyout when founder Edwin White decided to retire but wanted someone who would preserve the family ethos and company values. Now, Joyce works alongside her two sons, transforming John White & Son (established 1715) into a Scottish-Kenyan family business whilst honouring its three-century legacy. Joyce chairs the Scottish Africa Business Association (SABA), working to connect Scottish and African businesses and challenge outdated narratives about Africa being too risky for business. She advocates for recognising Africa's innovation—citing Kenya's M-Pesa mobile money system that leapfrogged traditional banking to create a nearly cashless society—and encourages collaboration between Scottish technology expertise and African problem-solving approaches. The episode explores Joyce's cultural perspective on risk, innovation, and problem-solving. Where Western business culture emphasises risk mitigation through extensive planning, Joyce describes the African approach: when there's a problem, find a solution immediately rather than dwelling on "what ifs." Joyce offers wisdom on work-life balance (advice she wishes she'd followed earlier), the importance of building safe networks with mentors and critics who challenge you, and the difference between business associates and friends. She emphasises being a giver—sharing information and skills to lift others—and maintaining clear boundaries when working with family through agreed-upon rules and discipline.