Jon Moulton
Title: "How not to prosper"
Jon Moulton’s insightful and astute presentation
on how not to succeed in business drew on his own experience
as he identified excellent management, strong finances
and the avoidance of ‘killer mistakes’ as
key factors contributing to business success. He then
outlined how common mistakes within four key areas in
a business can cost it dearly. Having big economies of
scale and attempting to penetrate an already crowded market
were considered significant strategic blunders, whilst
having too much funding too readily available was another
grave mistake companies can fall victim to.
Management action and management in general held the most
responsibility for fatal errors though. Gross optimism,
being unconventional and detachment were also highlighted
as management flaws, whilst standard faults such as inexperience
and lack of control were also referred to. On a lighter
note, some interesting statistics about divorcees provided
proof that a manager with one divorce under his belt is
more likely to be a successful manager than one with no
divorce. Finishing on a positive note, the advantages
of being a small business were recognised, including agility,
great support and crucially, good access to capital.
288kb
- Click here to download PDF
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John Bates
Title: "Challenges of Growth
Interactive Session"
As London Business
School’s Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship,
John Bates is something of an expert on the challenges
of growth that so many businesses face. Using interactive
keypads throughout his session he was able to shed light
on many of the issues that keep managers and owners awake
at night.
After ascertaining the two main areas of concern for business
people were personnel recruitment and cashflow management,
he addressed these issues by questioning the audience
on hiring and retaining staff and maintaining financial
control within a business.
He then outlined the typical phases that businesses go
through when developing – including establishment,
growth, renewal and regeneration, elaborating on common
problems and their solutions
Through further quizzing the audience about barriers to
growth and support they consider to be available, Bates
outlined some important factors in sustaining growth such
as experience, expertise and direction before rounding
off with some encouraging statistics and advice for the
ambitious entrepreneur.
484kb
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Sally Preston
Title: "Market idea to Market
Leader"
Sally Preston created a brand new market sector when she
launched her range of frozen baby food. She took the audience
on her journey from idea to Babylicious becoming market
leader, covering the challenges and problems she faced and
overcame along the way.
Giving a realistic and down to earth perspective on setting
up a business, Sally spoke of her experience of writing
a business plan, pursuing funding and overcoming an attempt
by another party to steal the Babylicious trademark and
brand.
After finally getting Babylicious into Waitrose stores across
the UK, Sally had to overcome delivery and re-stocking issues
before addressing the problem of product placement which
was crucial to brand’s success. Then, just as things
were looking up, Babylicious faced another stumbling block
when a hoax caller made a complaint against Sally and jeopardised
all her hard work. After a lengthy and costly battle, she
managed to prove the allegations were false and once again
she continued with her quest to get her product on the shelves
By speaking of her own direct experience and how she overcame
numerous setbacks, Sally provided inspiration and encouragement
for business people facing similar challenges within their
own companies.
620kb
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Joyce Morgan-Gervis
Title: "Passion to Profit"
Joyce and her husband, Nigel fell in love with ‘Ty
Mawr’ farm and left London for the beautiful surroundings
of the Brecon Beacons, to set up a business specialising
in the production of traditional lime-based mortars, plasters
and paints. Joyce spoke of the uphill struggle of establishing
Ty Mawr Lime and promoting the benefits of using lime
in construction and decoration.
By taking the ‘no risk’ option, they were
faced with a long hard challenge of building up the business
without the help of bank loans; something was inevitably
helped by their passion for what they were doing.
They now offer specialist training courses in traditional
building skills and have a large range of traditional
and ecological building and decorating materials. Joyce
explained how they targeted new markets and have seen
the Ty Mawr Lime brand grow considerably over the past
few years as a result of their tireless work and perseverance.
By speaking about the challenges they overcame and lessons
they have learnt, delegates were able to relate to Joyce
and find encouragement in her story of success.
644kb
- Click here to download PDF
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Sir Digby Jones
Title: "The Global Market
for the C21st Growing Business"
The former CBI director general flew the flag for business
across the UK and in his patriotic presentation, addressed
some pertinent issues relevant to businesses in the 21st
century, including some of the challenges and opportunities
they will face. Whilst the 19th and 20th centuries belonged
to Britain and America respectively, Sir Digby was resolute
that the 21st century belongs to Asia and this will not
change. Britain was made for globalisation and with its
macroeconomic stability is more than prepared for it.
He listed some impressive statistics, reiterating the
UK’s strength on the global playing field –
1% of the world’s population is located in Britain,
along with a significant 15% of the world’s GDP.
‘Profit is good’ was a clear message of the
presentation, without it no schools, hospitals, roads
and airports would be built. Winners should be nurtured
and we should invest in people in order to succeed in
the current environment. Sir Digby urged business leaders
to engage young people as they are the wealth creation
generation and the future of a knowledge-based economy.
Giving hints for success, access to capital was deemed
crucial and Finance Wales were praised for making the
‘smaller end’ funding available to growing
businesses. To finish, Sir Digby outlined the simple yet
important ethos of saying please, saying thank you, apologising
sincerely and just being nice, because it is very difficult
to reprimand a cheerful person!
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Doug Richard
Title: " Dressing for Investment:
What Investors Look For"
The founder of Library House has over 20 years experience
in software ventures and in his presentation imparted
his knowledge and gave an insight to his selection criteria
when investing in a company. With experience in starting
up businesses and also investing in them, Richard noted
that the criteria for both were actually very similar,
something a smart investor should be aware of and use
to his advantage.
People, product, market
and investment case were listed as the four crucial factors
that Richard looks at when making an investment. When
considering people, someone who can sell, deliver and
count is a rarity so an entrepreneur must have a team
of people who can ensure those functions are handled wisely.
With regard to product, it must be realistic and have
potential; it is important to be able to recognise when
the entrepreneur is better than the product, and indeed
vice versa. When choosing your market, Richard considered
its growth rate as a key indication of a product’s
success, not necessarily the size. Finally, the investment
case - understanding the investment and the nature of
entrepreneurship is central to making a successful investment.
Richard also noted on the importance of making mistakes
- a successful entrepreneur is someone who ended on a
high note but made mistakes to get where they were.
