When she was preparing for a marathon in January 2013, Pippa Murray struggled to find a natural, palm-oil-free nut butter to fuel her training. Rather than settle for a product that didn't meet her standards, she decided to make her own. By the end of the year she was selling her nut butters at London’s Maltby Street Market. Two years later, she was selling them in Selfridge’s.
Today, Pip & Nut is the UK’s fastest-growing nut butter brand and is stocked in over 3,000 stores. Murray has been listed in Forbes’ 30 under 30 and was named Start-up Entrepreneur of the Year at the NatWest Great British Entrepreneur Awards. But her greatest achievement to date, she says, was winning B Corp certification for her company in 2019. Since then, she has become an even stauncher advocate for sustainability by joining the board of trustees at B Lab, the nonprofit network behind the B Corp movement.
Here, Murray explains why achieving B Corp status was so important to her, and shares some tips on leadership, guiding a business through challenging times and preserving the startup magic even as your business grows.