Lord Sugar offers advice to East Midlands businesses

Lord Alan Sugar visited the East Midlands this week, to answer questions by regional entrepreneurs about the issues facing them during the recession.

The event, which was organised by East Midlands Development Agency (emda) in conjunction with Business Link, provided business people from across the region the opportunity to ask Lord Sugar questions and to seek his advice.

In total, over 640 business people attended the morning and afternoon question and answer sessions at the East Midlands Conference Centre in Nottingham.

Bryan Jackson, Chairman of emda, explained to the audience that Lord Sugar, who has recently been appointed to the position of 'Enterprise Champion', was interested in hearing from as many business people as possible during the day to offer them the benefits of his experience as an entrepreneur to help them find solutions to their problems.

A diverse range of questions were asked by the audience. A number centred around the issue of finance and how businesses could go about obtaining it after the tightening up of credit following the collapse of the banking sector last year.

Lord Sugar said that in the last 10 to 15 years, obtaining finance had become exceptionally easy, and that banks were living in a 'fantasy world', but that after the credit crunch, banks were now returning to the working practices that they had in place prior to this time, with greater checks on businesses.

Lord Sugar added: "The criteria of lending through banks is the same. They want to see that you are a viable business and that you have some cashflow. However, the difference is that you can't expect 95% of funding now, you will have to settle for a lower percentage."

Other questions asked Lord Sugar's opinion of the best use of websites, e-commerce and advertising. Another member of the audience asked whether Lord Sugar felt that there was too much bureaucracy and compliance issues facing businesses these days, taking up too much time of business people.

Lord Sugar responded to this question by drawing on his own experience in business, saying that it was not a new issue and was always a problem that he had faced in business. He added that although he understood it was frustrating, entrepreneurs just needed to see compliance 'like the Grand National, with lots of hurdles'. He said: "Imagine yourself like a baseball bat. Every time someone puts something in your way, whack it out of the way."

He also added that he hoped that all of the people that attended the event would be able to take away at least one idea from it, but he also added that there has to be a 'wake-up call' amongst businesses. "If they call themselves business people they have to run their businesses. If people are in business, it is because they don't want to work for someone else, because they think they have a skill, but there is no magic wand, business is a risk."

One of the business people that attended was Michael Stead, Managing Director of After Heels, a business based in Long Clawson Leicestershire, he said: "I found the event really useful. It is the best business event that I have been to. The advice Lord Sugar gave was very good and specific to each business. I am definitely going to take his advice on board."

Tricia Senior, Director of Senior Internet in Nottingham, who was also at the event, added: "I found it really interesting and motivational. His direct talking and no-nonsense approach to the business issues presented was a breath of fresh air. It was a reminder that as business owners, our futures are in our own hands."

For information about all of the support that is available to businesses in the East Midlands, contact Business Link on 0845 058 6644, or visit www.businesslink.gov.uk/eastmidlands

Photo: (L-R) Bryan Jackson, Chairman of emda and Lord Sugar.