Isle of Wight business owner Lucy Johnson has represented the Island on 2 stages at Ideas Fest 2026, an event dubbed the ‘Glastonbury of business’.
Lucy, founder of Simplex Accounting, was invited to share her expertise with entrepreneurs and small business owners across 2 days of the festival, which brought together thousands of founders, business leaders and experts.
Her first appearance saw her join the Building Finance Systems That Enable Growth panel on the IronMarket Finance & Growth Stage. The discussion focused on a challenge faced by many growing small businesses: how to get a proper grip on their finances without having a large finance team behind them.
Lucy shared her experience of working with small business owners to put simple financial systems in place, understand what their numbers are telling them and build stronger foundations for growth.
The following day, Lucy took to The Xero Stage for Unlock Your Numbers: The Financial Confidence Workshop, delivered in partnership with Xero. The workshop was created to help underrepresented founders and small business owners develop the practical skills and confidence to take greater control of their finances.
Lucy said:
“It was a bit surreal to go from running Simplex here on the Island to standing on two stages at Ideas Fest talking about something I’m so passionate about.
“I started Simplex five years ago because I wanted business owners to feel like they could actually understand their finances, rather than feeling intimidated by them.
Article continues below this advertisement “There are so many brilliant businesses being built on the Isle of Wight, and I think it’s important that Island businesses are part of these conversations nationally too. It was lovely to be there representing a business that started and is still based here on the Island”.
