29/05/2026
The Friday Accelerator Podcast – You can’t be what you can’t see – Mex Ibrahim
Why are so few of the FTSE 100 led by women? If you asked a young person on the street to name a famous businesswoman, would they struggle? And if you’re building a food business without a financial safety net behind you, would you expect to receive investment — not because you’ve been turned down, but because somewhere along the way you absorbed the idea that it simply wasn’t an option for someone like you.
Mex Ibrahim co-founder of Women In The Food Industry has spent years trying to change all that — and she’s blunt about why it’s still so hard.
Hosted by Karen Green – business growth expert, former Tesco and Boots buyer, and author of Recipe for Success and Buyerology® – The Friday Accelerator helps challenger brands, founders and scale-ups achieve faster, smarter growth. Karen has worked with over 1,000 food and drink businesses, helping them secure more than £350 million in new listings. With 30+ years of experience across the UK grocery sector, she knows what it takes to go from start-up to supermarket success.
Listen to the interview to find out:
- What Women in the Food Industry does and why it spans all food roles and verticals
- The ‘bootstrapping’ myth
- The gap that disproportionately affects women – but nobody ever talks about
- How women and men approach food entrepreneurship differently
- The class-coded psychology of asking for investment
Links, Resources and Book Recommendations
- Women in the Food Industry:
https://womeninthefoodindustry.com/ - Connect with Mex on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/meccaibrahim/ - The Quiet Burn by Lynn Blades:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Quiet-Burn-Ambitious-Recognizing-Preventing/dp/1639081305/ - The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tipping-Point-Little-Things-Difference/dp/0349113467/ - F*** Being Humble by Stephanie Sword Williams:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Being-Humble-self-promotion-isnt-dirty/dp/1787135136/
Some of our supporters
