Today in the Money blog, we look at how one woman turned her negative experiences in the entertainment industry into a positive – and multi-million pound – business. Scroll further down for all the details on the car finance compensation scheme and details on EU travel changes this Sunday.
Wednesday 8 October 2025 06:24, UK
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Less than 20% of all active UK companies are led by women, and the pace of new business registrations is slowing down. 
That’s according to analysis of Companies House data by Prowess, which also found women-led companies receive just 5.8% of all investment. 
In our Women in Business series, we speak to women who are bossing it in their respective fields as they tell us how they’ve overcome challenges and how others could do the same.  
Today Money live reporter Jess Sharp speaks to Lemon Fuller, a former dancer, choreographer, singer and the founder of Lemonade Dolls. 
Lemon’s business grew from an Instagram page she created while heading back to London after living in LA for three years.  
Having spent a decade in the entertainment industry being criticised, her aim was to build a community that uplifted women. 
“I was being told whether I was good enough, pretty enough, thin enough, fat enough – you name it. I think that was really the heartbeat of building a brand that was so inclusive,” she says. 
She had spent a lot of her life working on shows such as Strictly Come Dancing and Comic Relief, and with global music stars. 
She toured around the UK as a support act for Little Mix before being signed by a record company in LA. 
“I have no regrets at all, it was absolutely amazing and I worked very, very hard to get where I got. I worked my bum off every single hour of every single day, but after 10 years I needed to change.”
‘The Nike of lingerie’ 
After her Instagram page gained thousands of followers, she decided to shift the account into the lingerie business that we now know as Lemonade Dolls.  
Starting off with no money and no team, she has gone on to raise more than £3m in investment and create a business she tells Money is worth £17m. 
Her aim now is to become the “Nike of lingerie”. 
“I want it to be mass market done better where everything is recycled, and it’s sustainable. I want it to be as accessible to as many women as possible, and that’s why our price point and where we stock is so important,” she says. 
“We want to at least be a leading disruptor in the lingerie space, where every woman feels like we have catered to them.” 
And Lemonade Dolls is already on the right track.
Its products are sold in several countries including the US, New Zealand, the UK and across Europe. 
While its sales come predominately from online, it has entered several stores, including John Lewis and Nordstrom. 
“W’re here because our customers are so epic. We are still learning… but once you shop Lemonade Dolls, you just keep coming back. Our returning customer rate is so high,” she says. 
“We don’t really use celebrity endorsement – our customers are our ambassadors and we just use word of mouth.” 
‘You’re only as good as the last pair of knickers you sold’
Despite her determination and passion, Lemon says she made “mistake after mistake after mistake” and nothing in the business happened quickly for a long time. 
For the first few years, she just held the position of founder, but three years ago she took over as chief executive and pushed the business to new heights. 
“I didn’t have any products, I didn’t know factories, I didn’t know where to get it done, I didn’t know anything but I didn’t have any money, so I just tried to find people who had influence that could help me,” she says. 
“When I became CEO, I was able to really run the business the way I believed it should, taking lots of risks.  
“But we’re not getting too ahead of ourselves, you are only as good as the last pair of knickers you sold.” 
How to face a room full of male investors 
One of the keys to her success was learning how to face a room full of male investors and convincing them the underwear market is big enough for Lemonade Dolls. 
“The biggest thing that I learned to succeed in that environment is to match their understanding of numbers and to be ready to ask them questions,” she says. 
“Some people have said I shouldn’t have to do that but I’m not angry about it – at the end of the day it’s made me grow and nobody knows the numbers more than me. That’s how I have been able to get respect and investment. 
“No one knows your business better than you, so make sure you know how to articulate that.” 
Our business and economics reporter Sarah Taaffe-Maguire has been busy rounding up the details of the motor finance compensation scheme announced today. 
You can read her full story below… 
The FCA is hoping that claimants will receive their payouts within 28 days of lenders confirming they are eligible, chief executive Nikhil Rathi has just been telling Sky News. 
Answering a question from our Money reporter Jess Sharp, the FCA boss explains that the timeline is still being consulted on. 
He reiterates that lenders will have three months from when the scheme launches early next year to contact customers who have already complained. 
Lenders will also have the responsibility of contacting eligible claimants in the first six months of the scheme being active. 
Customers will then have a month to opt out of the scheme – if they don’t, they will automatically stay in the scheme. 
“They should pay what you are owed within 28 days of that confirmation,” Rathi says.  
He adds that deadlines for payments will depend on the infrastructure of the firm. 
If you have already made a complaint to your lender, they will have three months from when the compensation scheme starts to contact you, says Nikhil Rathi. 
You will then have one month after being contacted to decide if you would like to opt out of the scheme, the FCA chief executive adds. 
“Claimants do not have to make an active decision, if they don’t want to opt out. They will be contacted by the lender, and they will have a month to reply. If they don’t, they’ll be in,” he says. 
He adds that eligible claimants should be contacted by their lender within six months of the scheme starting. 
“We are expecting all lenders to make reasonable efforts to contract their customers that may be eligible,” he says. 
Rathi explains that people will not have to use a law firm or a claims management firm to enter the scheme.  
For the “tens of thousands” of people who already have a complaint lodged with the Financial Ombudsman Service, Rathi says the ombudsman will continue to handle the claim. 
Nikhil Rathi is briefing reporters on the compensation scheme announced this afternoon…
The FCA’s chief executive says he hopes the scheme will be up and running by early 2026. 
“People were not told important information about their motor finance deals and that’s because firms broke the law and our rules,” he says. 
“Some people have lost out paying more for their loans and we’re proposing a scheme to ensure they’re fairly compensated.” 
The FCA’s compensation scheme will benefit drivers who were put on higher interest rates without realising when buying a car on finance. 
Some dealers or brokers put customers on a higher interest rate to earn a better rate of commission – these are called “discretionary commission arrangements”. 
The practice was banned in 2021. 
The FCA has said those who had one of these finance agreements between 6 April 2007 and 1 November 2024 will be entitled to compensation. 
Firms involved include Barclays, Santander, Close Brothers and Lloyds Banking Group (which organises loans through its Black Horse finance arm – and also happens to be the UK’s largest motor finance provider).
These lenders have already been warned to set aside money to deal with claims.
If you aren’t sure if your finance deal entitles you to compensation, you can send an email or letter to the broker and lender. 
Consumer champion Which? has a template you can use here.
We’ve just heard from the FCA’s chief executive on today’s motor finance compensation scheme.
Nikhil Rathi said many lenders did not comply with the law or the rules, and “it’s time their customers get fair compensation”. 
“Our scheme aims to be simple for people to use and lenders to implement,” he said. 
“We recognise that there will be a wide range of views on the scheme, its scope, timeframe and how compensation is calculated. 
“On such a complex issue, not everyone will get everything they would like. But we want to work together on the best possible scheme and draw a line under this issue quickly.
“That certainty is vital, so a trusted motor finance market can continue to serve millions of families every year.”
The compensation scheme “has been a knotty, long-running saga”, says business correspondent Gurpreet Narwan.
In its simplest form, it relates to people who were sold a car on finance by a broker who also arranged a loan through a bank.
“These people ended up paying a higher interest rate than they should have done, because the broker was being incentivised by the bank to hook them onto a higher rate,” Narwan explains.
“It’s called discretionary commission arrangements.”
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) banned that in 2021 and today has released information about its compensation scheme.
“It’s going to consult on this scheme, take it out to the industry before coming up with a final structure,” Narwan says.
Compensation pot ‘smaller than earlier estimate’
One element is how much people should be paid and how the finance firms should calculate compensation, with some suggestions the bill could be in the region of £9-18bn.
“The motor finance industry was a bit sceptical about some of those numbers, wondering how the FCA had come up with them,” Narwan says.
But today it settled on a “more conservative estimate” in the region of £9bn.
“That’s assuming that all lenders face these compensation schemes, that all are eligible and that each individual could take home about £700 if they are eligible,” Narwan adds.
“And that’s actually smaller than an earlier estimate of somewhere in the region of 900 to £1,000.”
But she says the amount is not prescriptive, “so it isn’t one formula fits all… there’s an element of discretion and interpretation from the banks”.
The FCA says more than four million motor finance complaints have already been made to lenders. 
It has proposed that lenders contact consumers who complained before the scheme launches, which should be in the next three months.
Consumers who have not complained before the scheme starts should be contacted within six months to be given the chance to opt in, according to the FCA statement. 
Importantly, people do not need to engage a legal firm to help with any claim.
“Any consumers who have not been contacted can ask their firm to review their case at any time within one year of the scheme start date. We will run an advertising campaign to raise awareness of the scheme,” the FCA added. 
MoneySavingExpert’s Martin Lewis interpreted the FCA statement as meaning this… 
The FCA said it would expect firms to do the following: 
What can lenders do now? 
Lenders do have the chance to appeal. 
The FCA said: “We propose enabling lenders to rebut the presumption of unfairness in some limited circumstances.” 
Lenders would be entitled to determine there was no unfair relationship under the scheme if:
All this is now subject to a consultation until November.
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