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Dragon fires up entrepreneurial climate

One of the most well-known corporate figures from TV land came to the region yesterday and issued a rallying cry to would-be entrepreneurs.

Former Dragons’ Den star Doug Richard called on budding business leaders to rethink the misconceptions which hold them back from going it alone and to focus on the endless possibilities of entrepreneurialism.

The veteran technology and software investor spoke to bdaily while in Newcastle to run a masterclass about starting and expanding a successful business.

Alongside his ‘School for Start Ups’ team, he ran a seminar entitled ‘Start Here! Starting and Growing a Successful Business’ at Newcastle University.

Prior to the event, he told bdaily why it doesn’t matter whether you are brought up in Silicon Valley or South Shields when setting out on the road to business success.

He said: “Anyone who has an idea or a passion can start their own business. The world has moved on and people have been feeding you a lot of mistruths. We live in a world of myths.

“There’s a myth that you can’t teach someone to be an entrepreneur. People can be taught to be entrepreneurs. You don’t need to have a commercial head but you have to have a passion about something and you have to do something really well and do it a lot.

“It doesn’t matter where you are from whether it’s Newcastle, LA or Paris. The only advantage that people from the North East have is that it’s the accent that everyone loves the most.

“Success doesn’t depend on being bullheaded or ignoring what everyone says. successful entrepreneurs are resilient and you will get knocked back.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .