Heading into its second year, chart-topping family business podcast, It Runs In The Family, has a packed guest schedule confirmed for 2022, with 65 per cent of slots already confirmed. 

The 2022 schedule includes fashion designers, toy firms, leading household food and drink names, building specialists and hair and beauty brands.  From this diverse selection of businesses, mother and daughter podcast hosts, Liz and Leila Willingham, will be welcoming a combination of family members into the studio, including husbands and wives, parents and children, siblings and extended families.

Liz says: “We have a fantastic line-up of family business guests for next year and we’re delighted that our schedule is more than half full.

This really comes as no surprise to us as the UK is home to 5.2 million family-owned firms, and those we’ve had the pleasure to interview so far have had exciting stories to tell. Family-owned firms are the cornerstone of the country’s business community and, according to the latest report from the IFB Research Foundation, these firms employ 14.2 million people and are responsible for nearly 30 per cent of UK economic output, contributing £637 billion to UK GDP, which truly is incredible.”

Leila adds: “Our podcast celebrates family businesses across the length and breadth of the UK and we launched It Runs In The Family hoping that it would become a place where our global listeners can learn from family businesses, either as a family organisation themselves or as individuals interested in this unique way of operating. 

“There are only a few guest slots left for 2022 so we would urge those family firms interested and not yet booked in to get in touch as soon as possible.”

Increasing its international reach, the It Runs In The Family podcast has recently jumped into the Saudi Arabian charts for the first time ever, both the entrepreneurship chart at number 18 and the top business podcast chart at number 107. Aside from the UK, the It Runs In The Family podcast is attracting listeners in 42 countries including United States, Canada, Russia, Germany, France and Australia.

Liz Willingham, founder and managing director of PR and communications agency Liz Lean PR, and her daughter Leila, who is business and PR account manager at the agency, are on their own journey into the insightful world of the family business, and they introduced It Runs In The Family to highlight the diverse success stories of firms who have been built on years of heritage.

A new episode of It Runs In The Family is released every other Wednesday and is available to download and stream on all major podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

To never miss an episode or to discuss recording a family business story, please visit lizleanpr.co.uk/podcast-runs-in-the-family/.