The UK's Entrepreneurs
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FT SPECIAL REPORT The UK’s Entrepreneurs Tuesday October 7 2014 www.ft.com/reports | @ftreports Inside Creative Start them early A scheme to turn today’s primary school children into tomorrow’s champions of commerce clusters Page 2 Supporting start-ups New government legislation aims to encourage enterprise beyond Page 2 Meet the winners The talented the capital entrepreneurs nominated in this year’s EY awards Page 3 The UK’s regions are hotbeds of innovation and networking, says Jonathan Moules The future is bright: Steffan Aquarone (right) and Will Grant, the founders of mobile payment system Droplet roplet, a fast-growing connections to one place and the ability San Francisco and an entertainment needtotakebetteradvantageofthese.” agencies to join together to rent houses, mobile payments business, tobuildnetworkswithothers. cluster in Los Angeles. The UK has gam- While British cities fight for recogni- tohelpmanagespirallinghotelcosts.” is a darling of Birmingham’s Itissomethingthatsuccessfulexport- ing companies in Birmingham, music tion as hotspots for start-ups, those Calum Brewster, northern director of tech start-up community. ers need to embrace by looking over- enterprises in Manchester, and fashion startingcompaniestendtoseethevalue Barclays Wealth & Investment Manage- That’s show business D Steffan Aquarone, who hit seas, but British start-ups are also find- and financial services businesses in inkeepingafootinseverallocations. ment, says: “Today’s UK entrepreneur- How Rosemary Squire on the idea over coffee with his co- ingavalueinnetworkingwithothercity London. Spencer Gallagher is a non-executive ial landscape is very different from that took the Ambassador founder, Will Grant, is a big advocate of clusters around the UK. The entrepre- Iain Moffatt, head of UK regions for director for several UK-based entrepre- of 10 years ago; successful start-ups can the West Midlands city as a venue to neurial map of Britain has become a KPMG, says: “London should not aspire neurs and runs networking events all be made anywhere, whether you’re in Theatre Group to buildbusiness. cluster of clusters, from Aberdeen to tobebetterthanSiliconValley.Ifitdoes, over the country through The Agency OldhamorOldStreet.” dramatic new success He believes Droplet has succeeded Bristol,fromLiverpooltoLondon. it will fail. Silicon Valley has a history Collective, which helps creative agen- For Mr Aquarone at Droplet, basing a Page 3 both because of where it is based and Travel between urban centres is rela- that is not replicable. What the UK does ciesconnect. company in multiple locations makes because of the connections it has with tively easy – London to Cambridge, for have is its own set of circumstances cov- “I have found that it’s easy for people sense.HisconnectionsgobeyondtheUK The wine seller other British cities. This includes hiring instance, can be completed in 45 min- ering the business environment; its role to network in London, Manchester and asheseekstomoveintomarketsaround staff from Edinburgh and Bourne- utes by train. It makes the UK not so as a centre of excellence in financial Edinburgh, but after that, cities have the world. “It is all about competitive Profile of Rowan mouth. Droplet has now opened a sec- much another Silicon Valley, based in services and in the creative, marketing mixedresults,”hesays. edge,” he says. “The argument about Gormley, who used ond office in Shoreditch, London’s tech and around one area, as an alternative and advertising industries; and its geo- “Some regions are deeply sceptical of whetheritisbettertobeinBirmingham, crowdfunding to seed a start-uphotspot. to California, where different cities pro- graphic position spanning east and each other. The biggest barrier for or London, or both, is a bit parochial Droplet illustrates the way successful videseparatecentresofexpertise. west. If we are to cement our status as a regionally based agencies is the cost of when we are building products that we €65m drinks company start-ups benefit from both strong The US state has its tech centre in European hub for entrepreneurs, we travel and hotels. We are looking for wantthewholeworldtouse.” Page 4 2 ★ FINANCIALTIMES Tuesday 7 October 2014 The UK’s Entrepreneurs Children’s challenge A primary school scheme inspires pupils to build a business, says Liz Bolshaw Ways to foster enterprise and ambition in young minds Smooth operators: pupils at Caldicott School in Buckinghamshire sold fresh juices and smoothies on sports day, with £5 seed funding from the Fiver Challenge ike policemen, entrepreneurs He walked about 15 dogs and took Jasper is now enthusiastic about tak- London with an ambition to deliver 300 themandthenthey’dpayme,”hesays. “I used the money I got [from selling seem to be getting younger. photographsofhimselfwitheachoneas ing up entrepreneurship. “You can get mealsadayinitsfirst12months. Joe, then aged 12, soon became well myPSbusiness]tobuythefirstsheetsof No longer is entrepreneur- a memento, printing them off with his paidforsomethingyouenjoy,”hesays. “Wearetargetingyoungprofessionals known in his home town for his wiz- grip,” he says. Joe then moved into ship exclusively the domain pricelistontheback. Bar Segal and Daniel Kaplansky, Cass and young families who don’t have ardry, and sold his business “including T-shirts. “Skateboard brands all have L of MBA courses, but should His fellow pupil at Caldicott School, Business School alumni, are more con- enough time to cook themselves,” says someequipment”toafriend. diversified lines. They have their main “begin at an early age”, according to Freddie Lagesse, also took the Fiver ventional examples of youth enterprise. Mr Segal. “Our customers can order As a keen skateboarder, Joe’s next product, which is boards, but lots of Lord Young of Graffham, enterprise Challenge and sold home-made fruit They have known each other since they online up to 5pm for delivery on the venturewasmuchbetterresearched,he otherthingsontheside.” advisertoDavidCameron. smoothies at the school fete. He learnt a were 10 years old and growing up in same evening, and our meals cost says. “I knew I didn’t have the money to Vained products were sold via Insta- The Fiver Challenge, supported by useful lesson in price elasticity when his Budapest. And each has a father who is between£7and£15ahead.” gram, “because Instagram allows you to VirginMoney,hasinspiredsome20,000 team decided to drop their prices anentrepreneur. The founders raised £50,000 in seed find customers. You get recognition primaryschoolchildrentostartandrun toward the end of the day, in order to “We have this passion to bring really capitalfroma“networkofangels”inTel quickly.Wesoonhad400followers.” their own businesses for a month with shifttheirremainingstock. good food to the take-out model,” says Aviv. “Tel Aviv’s start-up scene is much ‘I like turning something I Joe used PayPal to take payments. just £5. Jasper Ewart-Smith, a 10-year- Chris Neesham, year five teacher at Mr Segal of their venture. OneFineMeal more developed than London’s. Every- enjoy into a money-making “My dad had to set up the account oldpupilatCaldicottSchoolinBucking- Caldicott School, says: “It’s a fantastic delivers a chilled gourmet meal, made one and their grandmother has a because I was too young,” he says, “but hamshire,sawoffcompetitionfrom500 thing for children to do at this age. from fresh ingredients, by moped to start-upthere,”saysMrSegal. scheme’ everythingelseIdidmyself.” participatingschoolstowintheprizefor Not all children have the confidence to yourdoor.Youjusthavetoheatitup. Joe Slater,14, a student at St Laurence Joe Slater, 14 years old This included researching suppliers, most inspiring individual at the recent set up a business and this challenge Thecompanyhasevolvedfromanini- School in Bradford-on-Avon, has not designing the product and the website, FiverChallengeawards. givesthemthat.Nowthewholeschoolis tial idea of delivering hot food involving been nudged by education or back- make actual boards, but I looked at the andusingsocialmedianetworkstopub- “I wanted to set up the dog-walking talkingaboutit.” multiple cooks in multiple kitchens ground into entrepreneurship, but by smaller,renewableelements.” liciseandsellthegriptapeandT-shirts. business because my dad never really The school made some £1,900 from acrossLondon,andwasoriginallycalled hisperceptionofmarketopportunities. His idea was to custom-design a Joe has been more inspired by watch- let me have a dog,” says Jasper. “I about 57 pupils’ various business initia- Eatro. “I took apart PlayStation controls and branded grip tape. “I researched it, did ing the BBC reality series Dragons’ Den decided to charge £1 for every 10 min- tives and with that bought a giant out- “Itwasjusttoocomplicatedandlogis- could modify them to look cooler or to the designs, found a supplier,” he says. than by anything he learnt in school, utes of dog walking. That was cheaper door chess set for the school play- ticallydifficult,”saysMrSegal. do something better. You alter the cir- Joe’s brand was called “Vained” to butinspiredhecertainlyis. than I really wanted, but I thought I ground, and made a substantial dona- OneFineMeal is much simpler, oper- cuit boards. People in my school would chime with leading skateboard brands “I like turning something I enjoy into wouldgetmorecustomers.” tiontoacharityinBrazil. ating in a five-mile radius across central give me their controllers, I’d improve FractureandBones. amoney-makingventure,”hesays. New regulations face Start-ups welcome