DEAR READERS

Hope is a dangerous thing; in the last two editor’s letters I’ve written about reasons to be optimistic amid the COVID pandemic – but here we are several months later and most of Europe is still locked down. However, and I type this with the utmost caution, there’s now something tangible to raise spirits: the vaccine. Rollouts may be stuttering in many European countries due to supply issues and export controls but day by day more people are being inoculated and the prospect of normal life after a nightmare year edges closer. Obviously this is good news for businesses and in this edition many of the CEOs and execs profiled are now looking ahead instead of battening down the hatches.

Mohamed Hadid opens up about his family and early ventures for our cover story, while Bianca MillerCole from The Apprentice gives some tips to budding entrepreneurs. We also delve into the banana trade with Port International, which not only supplies fruit and veg to Europe but also builds schools and orphanages in South America.

Finding travel stories has been hard of late but luckily Serbia’s resilience and well-implemented virus policy made skiing possible in the stunning Kopaonik mountains.

And finally, with lockdown measures easing in the UK, we spoke to the organisers of the capital’s longest-running art fair – the London Original Print Fair – about once again being able to view art up close and in person.