GrowthBusiness.co.uk: Your gateway to entrepreneurial success

Cut and thrust

For some entrepreneurs, buying a business is not only a full-time occupation – it’s a pastime as well. Bristol-based entrepreneurs Arron Banks and John Gannon tell Andrew Chilvers about serial deal making.

The last laugh: Deirdre Bounds

'Shall we talk in the igloo?’ says Deirdre Bounds, teetotal ex-comedienne on the Northern nightclub circuit and founder of Horsforth-based travel business i-to-i.

Lager than life: Karan Bilimoria

From meagre and untimely beginnings in recession-hit 1990, Karan Bilimoria tells GrowthBusiness how he has turned Cobra beer into a brand that is now sold in more than 45 countries.

Reaching for the stars

Over the next two years, David Williams, who is founder and chief executive of Avanti Communications at just 37 years old, has €110 million (£66.2 million) to spend on launching a 2.5-ton satellite the size of a Land Rover Discovery.

Cooking up a storm

After taking Pizza Express into the FTSE 250, David Page is once again building national restaurant chains such as Gourmet Burger Kitchen and The Bombay Bicycle Club. The new business is called Clapham House and it’s one of Britain’s fastest-growing companies.

Brian Hamill: headhunting honcho

Brian Hamill saunters into Imprint’s swish Sheraton Street headquarters in swanky Soho in exuberant spirits. He’s been celebrating Europe’s Ryder Cup victory over the Yanks and soon begins recounting why he’s an authoritative voice in the recruitment sector, rather than the Irish rugby legend or superstar golfer he once dreamt of becoming.

Maria Kempinska: stand-up success

For 25 years Jongleurs has been the stage on which tomorrow’s TV stars have proved themselves. Paul Merton, Rory Bremner, Graham Norton and Ruby Wax all learnt the art of stand-up at a venue that was created using a £300 overdraft by the daughter of Polish refugees.

Drive personnified: Toni Mascolo

Passion matters. It’s why entrepreneurs start businesses. It’s what persuades others to get involved, as employees, customers or suppliers. It’s a sustaining force during bad times. But it’s not necessarily inexhaustible. Successful growth creates plenty of ways that can diminish its force.

Entrepreneurial to the core

Alistair Baker, the innovator who has led Microsoft UK for the past two years, talks to GrowthBusiness about leadership, change-management and how the corporation is more than geared up for the next great turn in the technology cycle.

Murphy’s law

It’s a brave man who becomes CEO of internet colossus Friends Reunited at a time when its phenomenal growth appears to be stalling. But from day one, Michael Murphy set about strengthening the brand, turning a potential one-trick wonder into an attractive acquisition for media giant ITV.

Chris Mottershead: Tour de force

Self-driven, ambitious and always ready for a new challenge, Chris Mottershead is a travel industry pioneer and crystal ball gazer. GrowthBusiness meets the man who has taken both Airtours and Thomson to the summit of the UK travel sector and is looking to weave similar magic with his new project, Travelzest.

Alex Connock: TV super tsar

The media industry is going through a digital revolution, with traditional publishing and production models mixing with internet ideas and on-demand TV. Alex Connock is right at the sharp end with his TV production company, as GrowthBusiness discovers.

Business and the bid

He’s the brains behind Air Miles, the most famous worldwide loyalty scheme ever, and now he’s going one better with the global success of Nectar. And let’s not forget the small matter of staging the 2012 Olympic Games. GrowthBusiness meets Sir Keith Mills.

Rosemary Conley: queen of fitness

Despite numerous pretenders to the throne, Rosemary Conley CBE is still the biggest name in fitness after three decades helping the nation tone up and slim down. GrowthBusiness catches up with the exercise entrepreneur to find out if business is booming and how she handles the ongoing pressure to compete in a crowded market.

Media Square mogul

Jeremy Middleton is passionate about using acquisitions as a rapid growth strategy and there’s no denying he knows how to put failing businesses back on their feet. GrowthBusiness meets the chief of the fifth largest quoted marketing communications company in the UK.

"There's no such thing as failure, only feedback"

The challenges David Ferry faced when starting and growing his business, Ferry Financial.

"The Business is out there"

Neil O'Connell's advice for budding entrepreneurs is "don't panic".

"There's no such thing as failure, only feedback"

David Ferry set up his business, Ferry Financial, because he believed there was a better way to do financial management