News

South Tyneside entrepreneurs learn from experience

(29 November 2006)

A group of business people from South Tyneside have been rubbing shoulders with some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs for a master class in business success.

The business owners, who are studying on the Powerhouse Business Growth Programme at Durham Business School, part of the South Tyneside Local Enterprise Growth Initiative (LEGI), attended the North East Entrepreneurs' Forum SME Conference at the Hilton Hotel in Gateshead/Newcastle. The conference was designed to give SME business owner-managers the opportunity to hear how others have achieved success. The event featured an impressive line-up of speakers, each sharing their own inspirational stories of drive and determination. Five years ago, Sally Preston, founder and managing director of Babylicious Ltd, hit upon the simple yet revolutionary concept of producing frozen baby food and started her business from the family kitchen. Now Babylicious has grown into the biggest manufacturer of frozen baby food in Europe selling to all major multiple supermarkets. Sally’s story illustrates that 'no' does not mean 'stop' as she battled against the odds to get her venture off the ground. Sally was followed by Martin Penny, the man behind a hairdressing revolution GHD (Good Hair Day) whose GHD hairstyling irons have achieved iconic status as the must-have hairdressing product of the decade, with a fan base that includes Madonna and Victoria Beckham. Martin puts much of his company’s success down to having a fantastic product, finding the right distribution channel and having a great team of people. To round off the conference, the group listened to the truly inspirational story of Pete Goss MBE, who became a national hero a decade ago when he risked his own life to rescue a fellow competitor in the Vendee Globe single-handed yacht race. Pete battled hurricane force winds and 15-metre waves to save Frenchman Raphael Dinelli, before heading back out into the Southern Ocean to complete the challenge. He was awarded the MBE by the Queen and France's highest civil honour the Legion d'Honneur by President Jacques Chirac. Jeremy Wright, manager of the Powerhouse Business Growth Programme at Durham Business School, said: “The South Tyneside business owners have enrolled on the Programme to learn how they can successfully grow their companies as growth can be a difficult experience and it is essential that the process is controlled and well managed.” The Programme consists of a series of interactive group sessions where the topic of growth is discussed and then tools and techniques are tested on case studies. Participants then have the opportunity to put into practice their new-found skills, with the aim of securing long-term profitable growth for themselves. Carl Johnson of Solar Solve Marine at the Port of Tyne said: "I joined the Powerhouse Business Growth Programme to improve my vision and strategy and to arm myself with the tools to grow our company. “I found the conference a perfect fit with the course and I picked up some useful tips which I can work on. A common theme was that each of the speakers had embraced change, were prepared to take a risk and then bounced back when things didn’t go their way. It was really inspiring". PHOTO: ‘Sharing Expertise’ from left to right: Eddie Czestochchowski, Cell Pack Solutions, Joe McClelland, NJK Partnership, Jeremy Wright, Durham Business School, Michael Harkus, Square One Enterprises, Liz Bassnett, Push Creative, David Gracie, Durham Sheet Metal Works, Keith Herrmann, Durham Business School and Carl Johnson, Solar Solve Marine at Port of Tyne.