Dragons鈥 Den star Sara Davies has told aspiring North East entrepreneurs how she was inspired by an earlier panel member on the BBC business programme.
The founder and creative director of County Durham firm Crafter鈥檚 Companion has become probably the best-known face of North East business in recent years thanks to her appearance on Dragons鈥 Den, Strictly Come Dancing and other TV programmes.
She has also turned the firm she started while at university into a 拢40m turnover business employing more than 200 people, and was the guest speaker at an event held by the North East LEP to celebrate a programme that aims to reverse low rates of entrepreneurship in the North East.
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The High Potential Startups programme has worked with 99 people in Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and County Durham looking to launch their own business, leading to 58 new firms being incorporated with more likely to follow in the coming months.
The event heard that the programme was launched after research showed that the North East needed another 25,000 businesses to reach national averages, while only 1% of people in the region had started their own firm despite thousands wanting to do so.
Ms Davies said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a bit surreal sitting here this morning, seeing all those statistics, and having the realisation that 17 years ago I was exactly where you are now and I was that statistic. At the time, if anyone had said to me: 鈥楽ara, 17 years from now you鈥檇 have a 拢40m business employing 250 people, the majority of which are in the North East鈥, I would have laughed at you.
鈥淣ever in a million years did I have any aspiration or beliefs that I could get to where I am today, but now I can you say that nobody is going to tell me what I can鈥檛 achieve in another 17 years. It鈥檚 having that belief and drive and passion that can really get you anywhere.
鈥淲hen I started out, there was no LEP, there was no Growth Hub but there was the equivalent, which was Business Link. I can honestly say that if if wasn鈥檛 for the support that Business Link did, how they really helped me on the first few months of the journey I wouldn鈥檛 be where I am today.
鈥淭here was nothing different about me or special about me and I don鈥檛 feel bad standing up here and saying that. I felt like the most ordinary person in the world doing the most normal thing ever. It wasn鈥檛 really until I was in my early twenties and I used to watch Dragons鈥 Den and would hang off their every word. I bought every one of those Dragons鈥 autobiographies and I thought that if I read those books, I would learn how to do business well.
鈥淐an I remember how Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis talked about doing business? No. But I remember getting Duncan Bannatyne鈥檚 book. His book wasn鈥檛 about how to do business, it was just his story and it was called Anyone Can Do It. I remember reading that book and I had an epiphany where I thought: 鈥楬e鈥檚 just a normal bloke鈥. He hadn鈥檛 grown up with a silver spoon in his mouth, he didn鈥檛 get a leg up in life, but he was so ordinary and I read his book and he had these really big ambitions and it was just his drive and passion for what he did. I thought, if he can do it, I can do it because I鈥檝e got the same drive and ambition as him.
鈥淚 thought you needed access to finance or a load of money to get started. But he didn鈥檛 and look how successful he was, maybe I could do that. That鈥檚 what really drove me in those early years.鈥
The event had earlier heard from Ammar Mirza, chair of the North East LEP鈥檚 business and sector growth board, and Colin Bell, the LEP鈥檚 business and sector growth director, about the importance of increasing the number of people in the North East starting their own firms.
Mr Bell said that hitting national levels of business start-ups could add 拢10bn to the local economy and help create 200,000 more jobs. He added that the companies that had been through the High Potential Startups programme 鈥渞epresent the future鈥 for the region鈥檚 economy.
