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Alan Sugar May Have Forgotten The Lessons Of His Early Years As An Entrepreneur
05/11/2009
By Lea Pachta
Julie Meyer, CEO of Ariadne Capital and Founder of Entrepreneur Country shares her views on Alan Sugar's comments on entrepreneurs.
"Alan Sugar clearly doesn't seem to buy into the policy initiative that the UK government has set about the banks lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to help them weather the current economic storm. He is confusing his role as a potential lender of last resort with that of the government or bank in that role, and I do believe this is evidence that he may have forgotten the lessons of his early years as an entrepreneur.
Far from calling SMEs who have been refused financing "moaners", those of us at Entrepreneur Country take a 'roll-up your sleeves' approach to business building. We are trying to be a part of the solution, rather than adding to the problem and simply passing the buck of blame.
I find, whether it's in the Dragon's Den or through the companies we meet at Ariadne or through Entrepreneur Country, that it is training and guidance which is required to help match the right funds to the right company and at the right price.
Many Managing Directors who run SMEs will not have encountered such bad trading conditions before in their lives, and so they need extra assistance in understanding how to navigate their ships through the current challenges.
In particular, they need to understand better how to reduce fixed costs, tighten contracts, negotiate, market and sell more effectively , prepare more detailed and more flexible forecasts, and access more types of finance from grants, to factoring (where appropriate), to private equity, private debt and bank finance.
There is generally a price at which debt or equity can be concluded if the entrepreneur is prepared to be flexible; he/she may not... continued on page two >
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