GrowthBusiness.co.uk: Your gateway to entrepreneurial success

The return of Gerald Ratner

Gerald Ratner started working behind the counter of the high street jewellers started by his grandfather. He made his way up to the top, turning a loss-making business into a FTSE-listed company with hundreds of stores in the US and a healthy share price. Business Leaders / Tuesday, 6th November 2007

At the helm: Jonathan Adnams

Life as an independent UK brewer can be hard to swallow, so what better way to forget the storm and stress of commerce than to take to the open sea? GrowthBusiness speaks to Jonathan Adnams. Wealth Management / Thursday, 25th October 2007

Wish I’d known...Tony Moloney

A year after Tony Moloney started Anthony Alan Foods, the company won the UK license to manufacture cakes under the Weight Watchers brand. In its first four years it achieved organic growth of 7,600 per cent to £20.6 million, winning numerous awards along the way. Achieving Growth / Wednesday, 24th October 2007

Rising star: Streetcar

Operating in London, Brighton and Southampton, car share company Streetcar has 10,000 members. It will soon expand its geographical coverage and anticipates membership to rise to 150,000 by 2012. We catch up with co-founder Andrew Valentine. Achieving Growth / Wednesday, 6th June 2007

Dave Brooks: What I wish I'd known

Dave Brooks is CEO of cakemaker Finsbury Foods. Since taking control in 2002, he has seen profits rise as a result of his hands-on approach to management and business. He talks about his passion for the food sector and why you shouldn’t use management speak. Achieving Growth / Wednesday, 30th May 2007

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. Business Leaders / Tuesday, 27th March 2007

Wayne Hemingway: What I wish I'd known

Wayne Hemingway and his wife Gerardine founded fashion label Red or Dead in 1982 and won the British Fashion Council’s Street Style Designer of the Year award three times in a row. After selling the company in 1999 they set up Hemingway Design, which focuses on affordable and social design. Achieving Growth / Thursday, 15th March 2007

Stephen Armitage: What I wish I’d known

As an ex-miner with experience in the print industry, Stephen Armitage, managing director of digital photo wall-scape company Myfotowall, is both practical and creative. Starting a fast-growing business in a new market, however, proved to be a steep learning curve. Achieving Growth / Wednesday, 14th February 2007

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. Business Leaders / Wednesday, 11th October 2006

David Reiss: staying in control

In the notoriously fickle world of fashion it’s rare to find a name that has persisted over the decades without either collapsing under the weight of its own ambitions or lapsing into corporate uniform. And it’s rarer to find one that is still controlled by the same restless entrepreneurial spirit that founded it. Achieving Growth / Wednesday, 13th September 2006

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. Business Leaders / Friday, 25th August 2006

Woodmansterne's challange

Paul Woodmansterne inherited the family business with his sister and Watford-based Woodmansterne Publications has become a leading publisher of fine-art and culturally-inspired greetings cards in the UK. Founded originally in 1953 as a publisher of colourslides, the company introduced its first greetings cards in 1987. Achieving Growth / Wednesday, 26th July 2006

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. Business Leaders / Friday, 3rd March 2006

Paramount for success?

Paramount 21 is a labour of love for its chairman, Alison Hannaford. Not only does her passion for food underpin her considerable enthusiasm for the business, but there is also an deep-seated emotional involvement. Achieving Growth / Friday, 6th January 2006

Eat Natural's healthy growth

Despite knowing nothing about food retailing, the manufacturing industry or even home cooking, Preet Grewal and Praveen Vijh have created the fastest-growing cereal bar brand in the UK. GrowthBusiness reports on a duo that are giving the giants of the food trade a run for their money. Achieving Growth / Friday, 25th November 2005

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