The Chain Reaction

It's not often that I attend conferences where I'm not due to speak, but something urged me to get along to the Chain Reaction event - all about international social leadership - yesterday at London's South Bank.

The attraction for me was a session entitled 'Can Entrepreneurs Change the World?' (to which the answer is of course 'YES WE CAN!') - but I was intrigued to know what the line up of Peter Jones, James Caan and Sir Richard Branson (albeit by video) amongst others made of the debate.

I often make the joke in my after-dinner speeches that Peter Jones rarely bothers to show up at enterprise events unless Gordon Brown is speaking - and true to form an unexpected bonus was the appearance on stage of our very own PM Gordon Brown.

And so we had them. Peter Jones swept in no doubt by his chauffeur driven Maybach to tell us that 'Scarcity is a real driver of innovation' and 'Am I the only one on the positivity bandwagon here?'; James Caan telling us that making money is brilliant because then you have lots to give away to charity like Bill Gates does; and then Sir Richard Branson beamed in via a pre-recorded satellite link where he was clearly sitting on the sun-drenched terrace of his holiday home on Necker Island, telling us how wonderful it is to encourage enterprise.

Finally Gordon Brown joined the debate, who reminded me of a Finance Director I used to have who arrived at every Board Meeting looking a bit shabby and crumpled, so busy scribbling notes on to a bit of a paper during the debate that he didn't really seem to be paying attention to much of what was going on, whose every bit of body language seemed to scream 'No you can't!', only to get up and tell us with as much gusto as he could muster that the UK economy was due to double in the next 20 years and that NOW REALLY IS a great time to be in business.

Meanwhile, back over here in the real world, before I set off for London yesterday morning I opened three emails all about entrepreneurs absolutely on the knife edge brink of bankruptcy, about to lose their homes, and in desperate need of my help (or anybody's help for that matter) while meantime at the weekend my own husband received a letter from his company stating that one person in his team of three at work would be made redundant this week, as a result of the tightening economy. By the way, I don't have an army of PAs handling all my correspondence, plus I go and talk to entrepreneurs around the country at business events every week, so I really do feel that I am at the sharp end of what is really going on.

Maybe I should reassure all of these people that, not to worry, in 20 years' time everything will be OK?

The only speaker who really captured the imagination of the audience yesterday was the fabulous Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project, who spoke with passion about the ability of business to deliver so much more than the constricted City-lead profit expectation of big corporates, whose CSR initiatives are nothing more than a few marketing frills to attract extra shoppers. In other words the current system of capitalism and 'much to few' isn't working - not for business, not for individuals and certainly not for the environment. He would be my vote for PM (or at minimum Minister for Business) any day.

It was a great event and I'm glad I went but all of this left me a bit angry.

Real businesses currently on a knife edge don't need this patronising happy clappy rhetoric from those living in a fur lined sunshine bubble any more.

Firstly we need an urgent law which will suspend the ability of any UK citizen to lose their home until the economy has recovered. And we also need an emergency fund which can intervene to help struggling businesses re-finance in the short term as well as give them advice to help them to restructure and adapt their businesses to get back towards profitability in the long term.

And if I were involved in 'restructuring the global financial architecture' I would start with the premise that capitalism as we knew it cannot be the basis for generating future prosperity for our planet and its people.

Qualified by Experience

Yet another bitchy article in The Telegraph, this time criticising the Parliament's Business and Enterprise Committee for selecting James Caan, Doug Richard and myself to give evidence this week on how Britain can create a 'higher added value economy', on the basis that James and I have experienced the failure of a business and the fact that Doug has stated he admired Eos, the business class only airline which subsequently failed.

Not sure if the author Jonathan Russell has been living under a leaf for the past few months, but given the number of businesses which have already failed so far this year, and the number likely to crash and burn over the next year or so I would have thought ways to assist and support business survival would be pretty high up the agenda for any enterprise review.

Something like two thirds of all UK business start-ups fail within their first two years (with huge numbers of associated personal bankruptcies), and less than 10% of businesses will survive more than a decade. It's not only market conditions which are to blame; the current insolvency laws - which allows ailing companies to essentially phoenix themselves through an administration process, emerging next day with pretty much identical directors & shareholders, but wiped of their debt - are a huge contributor to the statistics.

How could one of the elite few entrepreneurs who has never experienced tough times in business (and believe me, there are very very few) possibly be able to give meaningful comment?

Caan Breathes New Life Into Stale Den

Couldn't help but tune into the new series of Dragons' Den last night, and I have to say I was very impressed with James Caan as the new Dragon in the line up. He was positive and fair to all the entrepreneurs who pitched, as well as being tough when he needed to be - as well as holding his own brilliantly with the other Dragons. A real professional, and a good choice on the part of the BBC who has breathed new life into what was becoming an increasingly stale format.

Glad also to see that Ms Meaden has at last invested a little of her wealth in a personal stylist and image makeover (miaow!). Her stone suit and tailored blonder haircut were so much more flattering and up to date than her previous navy pinstripe 'John Lewis Shop Assistant' ensemble.

But the highlight of the Show has to be Peter Jones' arrogant retort to the pair who were planning to launch a dating agency, and dared to invite him to use their service.

'I don't need a dating agency because I'm seriously good looking and wealthy' came Jones' reply.

Not because he already has a long suffering other half by whom he has had two children then...?

Good looking? Maybe. Wealthy? For the moment perhaps, yes. Attractive? Definitely no.

Big Fish and (Two) Dragons

Fresh back from London (I love London and still find myself spending at least two days a week down there, but am always grateful to get back to our beautiful home in the Peak District), and full of renewed inspiration for entrepreneurship...

Yesterday I interviewed Karan Bilimoria (founder of Cobra Beer) for my forthcoming book on entrepreneurship - and then went to the Big Fish entrepreneur's networking event http://www.bigfishnetwork.co.uk/sponsor.aspx in the evening to hear my old pal and co-Dragon Doug Richard talk about his entrepreneurial experiences.

Karan is the most charming man; newly appointed as a member of the House of Lords and now moving in terribly high circles. We both started our businesses back in 1989 and have both faced business meltdowns; his in 1998 when, similarly to me, the banks pulled the plug - the difference being he managed to survive! Since then, he has gone international with the Cobra Beer brand and now has the vision to take sales to £1billion - and will probably float in 2008/9.

His new book is a great read too - get it at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bottled-Business-Gassy-Guide-Entrepreneurship/dp/1841127264/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/202-8916901-1947858?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182260901&sr=8-1

Doug was in brilliant form and actually it is the first time I had heard him speak and tell his own story. He started out building software businesses in the States before coming to the UK and becoming an Angel Investor.

I always felt that Doug was one of the best ever Dragons - certainly the cleverest, sharpest and most entertaining; the Show just isn't the same without him.

On that note, I saw at the weekend the BBC has just announced the line up for Series 5 - Richard Farleigh has gone in favour of James Caan - some much needed fresh blood, but personally I would have kept Richard Farleigh - who represented the only human face of business on the Panel.

Dragons' Den may be good ratings fodder for the BBC but as a business show has totally lost all credibility - and that is a view consistently echoed by the entrepreneurs I meet at business events up and down the country. The old pin-stripe suited 'greed is good' Alpha Male (& Alpha Female) face of business is now so dated, it's really time that the BBC woke up to the fact that there are a whole new generation of entrepreneurs out there doing business in a much more ethical, collaborative way, and with real integrity and respect for others.

And, ironically, it is exactly those types of business that are increasingly turning customers on too.