Past Events
Building Business Success by Investing in your Future - with Karren Brady
Iconic businesswoman and TV star Karren Brady gave a masterclass to over 100 Surrey businesses on building business success at an exclusive event held by the Guildford College Group to launch its Services to Business team last week.
Karren was managing director of Birmingham Football club at 23, is Lord Alan Sugar’s assistant in BBC 1’s The Apprentice and is regularly named as among Britain’s top businesswomen. Now vice- chair of West Ham United FC, Karren shared with the audience an inspirational account of her success in business, the importance of great leadership and the value of investing in your workforce.
When Karren Brady convinced her boss to buy Birmingham City Football Club in 1993, she arrived at a club that was in administration, didn't own any computers and had a stadium that was falling down - even the roof on the toilets in the stadium had blown off - she knew she had a challenge on her hands.
Now, Birmingham City is a thriving business with a turnover of £55 million and a profit of £5 million. Such has been the turnaround, financial consultants Deloitte regard Birmingham City Football Club as a blue print for running a successful business.
During her presentation, Karren outlined her six key ingredients to success:
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Leadership; a real leader will face the music if it goes wrong
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Ambition; without ambition no one will get things started
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Determination; the key to her success
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Attitude; to change the business for the better
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Direction
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Positivity; where true success largely occurs by seeing things through to the very end
As in any business, to achieve success Karren had to change the culture at the club. She initially found it hard to bring about the change, so came up with two strategies to achieve it. She said: ‘A change in culture is one of the hardest things to get across to staff. We had two strategies for achieving the change we wanted to see. The first was to take people's minds with us on the change and the second was to take people's hearts with us through enthusiasm, passion and desire.'
In 1993, surrounded by footballing giants such as Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers, Birmingham City Football Club couldn't just rely on the standard of its football or facilities to bring in the paying supporters. Karren therefore identified the club's main strength as its inner city location. To bring the community to the club she introduced many initiatives including family stands, Kid for a Quid, the Lone Parent Deal and School Dinners Deal where children on school dinners went to matches for free.
‘If a customer trusts you, then you can start to expand their needs. Bring in the extra bits. We have affinity schemes at the club which have proved popular - the Blues mortgage, credit card and even funeral services - all are income streams to the business,' said Karren.
She went on to describe herself as an advocate of Apprenticeships and commented on the power of them saying that they are “more valuable than a person with a degree as it hand’s on experience”.
She then challenged the audience by saying “When I speak to young people they want to work, but haven’t got the opportunities. I want you to really think about what you can do to help young people and how it can help your business.” Three organisations pledged on the night to take on an apprentice, with a number of others requesting more information about what benefits Apprenticeships can bring to their businesses.
Coup for local business as The Apprentice's Karren Brady says: You're hired!
Local business owner Sam Farrow, of Guildford-based design agency Farrow Creative, won the contract to design the website for entrepreneur Karren Brady, vice chair of West Ham FC and star of BBC1’s The Apprentice, after meeting her at an event organised by Guildford College.
Farrow Creative, which also has a studio in Petersfield in Hampshire, recently opened the Guildford branch in Ward Street due to demand and the appeal of broader opportunities in the town.
Sam says, “I attended an evening hosted by Services to Business at Guildford College a couple of months ago, at which Karren was guest speaker, and was really inspired by her story. I decided to be bold and approached her as she sat on the stage, introducing myself and the work of Farrow, by giving her our brochure. She liked what she saw and invited me to a meeting with her at West Ham. We talked through the work we’re so proud of doing for our existing clients and our creativity and approach seemed to really appeal to her. We were then able to turn around a great website for her within a very tight deadline to coincide with the launch of the new series of The Apprentice. Working for Karren was fantastic, as she’s a lady who really knows what she wants and has extremely high standards, but we really just did what we do for all our clients: listen to what they want and deliver it with the passion that drives us.”
The event at which Karren Brady spoke was the formal launch of Services to Business at Guildford College, a dedicated team working closely with employers to develop and deliver the specific training local businesses and organisations need. It was one of a programme of events which aim to support local businesses, highlighting the benefits of apprenticeships and demonstrating how strong leadership can promote business growth.
Debbie Tate, Business Account Manager, Services to Business at Guildford College, says of the news, “We’re delighted that a dynamic local businesswoman like Sam, who is so good at what she does, was able to make use of this opportunity to approach Karren. To know that a local company and a fellow member of the Surrey Chambers was able to win such a prestigious project out of it, is a huge bonus.”
Sam adds, “Guildford really is a creative hub and business centre attracting clients of the highest calibre. Meeting someone like Karren at a local event really does prove the power of networking right on the doorstep and the sort of clients it can bring in.”