This week our Managing Director and our Head of Recruitment were lucky enough to exchange greetings with the Moonpig Founder Nick Jenkins. What words of wisdom they take away I can only hope to think on as they joined a group of select people lucky enough to hear him talk in the same week as he announced he was relinquishing his role as a Dragon.
Managing Director Craig Roberts commented, “I thought it was very informative, there was humour and light heartedness, but also some really key pieces of advice that will help all budding entrepreneurs. As a Company who have been shortlisted for the finals in the Wiltshire Start-up Business of the year, we are definitely grateful for a chance to gain some first-hand business advice from a man who has taken so many start-ups to the next level.”
Head of Recruitment Tania Whitmarsh reflected “I found it very inspiring, as he not only talked about successes but failures too, as he stressed that on the road to success you can’t give up, as the triumph might only be just around the corner.
Nick Jenkins the founder of online greeting card giant Moonpig, sold the company to photobox in 2011 as no.3 in the Times profit track 100 list for £120 million.
After reading Russian at university, he turned down a place at Sandhurst to work as a commodity trader in Moscow for 8 years. Upon returning to the UK he studied for an MBA at Cranfield University where one of the business plans he wrote went on to become Moonpig.
Since 2008 he has actively invested in start-up businesses, particularly in technology and online retail. Also as a committee member of the Social investment fund Impact Ventures UK, he has helped fund enterprises which help tackle social issues in the UK. In the Den alone he has invested just shy of £850,000.
In Addition to Nick Jenkins, those in attendance were lucky enough to hear from the one and only David Sproxton CBE, Co-founder of Aardman the National Treasure that brought us Morph, Shaun the Sheep and Wallace and Gromit.
As Aardman have now passed their 40th Anniversary it was inspiring to hear about how they went from humble beginnings as graduates who created the beloved Morph, for children’s television show “Take Hart.” To the 4 time Oscar Winning, innovative organisation with brands and businesses all vying to have them produce a piece of personalised magic for them.
Attending the Entrepreneurs Exchange in Bristol, which has Events across the UK running simultaneously, was a great experience for the IBP Management team, who said that they only wished they could have seen every speaker appearing across the Network. As a free series of events sponsored by HSBC we cannot recommend enough, ensuring you attend your nearest location next year, as, entering their third year we can’t wait to see who will be speaking.
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