Some of the UKs leading business leaders and opinion formers share their insight and ideas for growth
With Twitter expected to serve its 10 billionth tweet on Friday, 5 March, research has found that just a fraction of the FTSE 100 have got on board with Twitter. Just 16 of the UK’s top 100 companies are using the social networking site to chat with customers. The sidelining of Twitter as an informal communication channel could well be costing them dearly – 20 per cent of ‘tweets’ contain a reference to a product or brand, according to metrics released last week*.
In the late 1980’s, Clive Woodcock was about the only journalist reporting on small business issues through his column in Friday’s Guardian. His solitary status reflected the lack of media interest in the subject; the term entrepreneur hadn’t been widely adopted, nor had our work culture embraced the positive options of self-employment.
After a difficult year for many top brands, from ongoing strike disputes at British Airways and Royal Mail to the latest Eurostar snow crisis, businesses are being reminded that rebuilding customer trust and loyalty should be their top priority in the New Year.
Lord Sugar has hit back at the critics who claim that he is “out of touch with SMEs”, insisting that he is “passionately committed” to helping small firms and that SMEs who complained about being refused loans were “moaners” who were living in “Disneyland”.
The season to be merry is upon us as we rush to prepare for a few days off work. Then comes the strain of too much food, drink or financial worries and Christmas is anything but relaxing. Hoping to promote Christmas cheer in tough economic times, Apprentice star, Claire Young has launched the ‘Balancing Britain Campaign’, working with Chinese health and wellbeing organisation Lishi in a bid to encourage the nation to switch off over Christmas.
Entrepreneur Rik Hellewell, owner of the UK’s largest oven-valeting franchise network, Ovenu, has slammed the Government for acting like a ’sat nav with no postcode’ saying they would do well to follow the lead of their counterparts in the southern hemisphere.
Charlie Mullins has hit out at the ‘excessive’ boardroom habits of UK businesses, saying firms need to adopt a ‘less talk more work’ attitude if they are to survive the downturn.
Charlie Mullins, managing director of leading independent plumbing firm, Pimlico Plumbers, has slammed controversial plans by British banks, which could see cheques abolished by 2018.
Gone are the days when we could all set our watches by the clatter of the letterbox. The reality now is that despite the rising cost of mail, the service that was once at the core of British industry is now a thing of the past. The recent postal strikes have cost UK businesses an estimated £1.25 billion, money that companies can ill afford during the country’s longest recession. Whether you are a sole trader, an SME or a company who employs hundreds of staff, each and every one of us has been affected by it.
The number of people starting their own business from a spare room or the garden shed has risen dramatically as the recession bites, reveals a research report – The 2009 Home Business Report released by Enterprise Nation and supported by BT – saw almost a third of a million people made the decision to go alone in the last 12 months, with 5,500 every week leaving behind commuting and the office for the chance to be their own boss.
A group of young technology entrepreneurs have joined together for charity to create the first Nude London Tech calendar features 24 tasteful portraits of London’s IT pioneers. The photos show the men and women posing with strategically-placed laptops or wrapped in computer cables.
Following on from Lord Sugar’s comments on entrepreneurs, which has sparked a wave of media coverage, we spoke to Julie Meyer, a Dragon on Online BBC Dragons Den and CEO and Founder of Ariadne Capital to get her thoughts on the comments and also whether she thinks they were right or justified.
A recently published survey claims that personal adversity is the most leading driving factor motivating the UK’s successful entrepreneurs.
Seven out of ten (69%) say they have been motivated by adversity including parental divorce, a car crash, cancer, and under- achieving at school. And the majority (56%) say determination is the most important characteristic for a successful entrepreneur, followed by passion (22%).
It’s tough to be an entrepreneur out there in this current market, tougher than I’ve ever seen it before. Small business owners with stellar ideas for start-up ventures and innovators with life-changing inventions are being left dangling over the precipice of despair, abandoned by institutions that previously might have funded them, and having to watch their dreams crumble.
We asked Paul Bridle, leadership methodologist to reflect on the Prime Minister’s speech to the Labour Party conference last week
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