Five Successful UK Entrepreneurs You May Not Have Heard Of

Britain is replete with successful entrepreneurs who love to share their experiences. These five are among the most interesting and engaging business speakers.

Jo Fairley

Co-founder of Green and Black’s Organic Chocolate, Jo Fairley is a successful businesswoman and philanthropist. Green and Black is the most prominent of the successful brands she has personally created, while she also acts as a consultant for a wide range of clients. She has a close involvement with health and beauty through several leading websites, including beautybible.com, which is the world’s leading beauty website. She is also an award-winning journalist and author and has penned a best-selling series of books on health and beauty.

http://www.speakerscorner.co.uk/speaker/jo-fairley Dave Fishwick

A self-made millionaire who owns a company that builds and sells minibuses, Dave Fishwick is an innovative entrepreneur who is not afraid to take on the establishment. Realising that businesses in his home town of Burnley were suffering as banks cut back on lending, he started his own “bank” – the Bank of Dave - to help them out and those who have used his services when the main street banks have turned them away say that he has saved their businesses.

Dave started out buying and selling second hand cars after leaving school at 16 with no qualifications and deciding that working as an apprentice builder was not for him. He recognised that there was more profit in commercial vehicles and so successfully developed his business in that direction. He is a great supporter of sport in Burnley and is a major sponsor of Burnley FC.

Simon Duffy

Oxford University graduate Simon Duffy is an innovative entrepreneur, best known for co-founding the men’s natural skincare product company Bulldog Natural Skincare and successfully marketing its products in stores across the globe. Prior to that, he was a co-founder of creative consultancy Fahrenheit 212 but found it frustrating coming up with ideas for other companies.

Bulldog was born from an idea when Simon noticed that, while there were plenty of natural skincare products for women, there were none for men. Investing all his savings with business partner Rhodri Ferrier, Simon started Bulldog and began to compete with the big multi-national cosmetic companies – and the rest is history.

A some time columnist for leading newspapers, Simon has appeared on television and radio shows and is a popular speaker.

http://www.speakerscorner.co.uk/speaker/simon-duffy Deidre Bounds

After graduating from Trinity and All Saints College, Leeds, Deidre Bounds had a succession of jobs in sales and marketing and even tried her hand at stand-up comedienne until she went overseas as an English teacher. This led her to establish i-to-I Gap Year Travel, which, in 11 years, she built into the world’s largest gap year business before selling it to TUI Travel. She established Parties around the World, her second online business, in 2009.

Deidre regularly speaks on radio about finance and women in business and supports a number of charities both financially and as a speaker.

http://www.speakerscorner.co.uk/speaker/deirdre-bounds Fraser Docherty

Fraser Docherty has won a plethora of awards in his few short years as an entrepreneur. The 2007 Young Entrepreneur of the Year, 2007 Outstanding Young Person of the World, 2008 Bighearted Scotland Business Person of the Year and 2009 Nectar Business Entrepreneur of the Year are just a few of the accolades he has won.

Starting at age 14, Fraser set up SuperJam using his grandmother’s jam recipes. He started selling his produce at farmers’ markets and, having perfected his jam making, won contracts to supply leading supermarkets. He has written two best-selling books about his jam and his story, and shares his experiences at speaking engagements all over the country. Fraser personally supports charities while SuperJam also runs tea parties for the elderly who live in care or sheltered accommodation.

http://www.speakerscorner.co.uk/speaker/fraser-doherty