If you’re still staring at the picture trying to figure out where you’ve see this face…Umm… He was probably on your TV screen on shows like Dragons Den and recently The Apprentice.

Leon is not just a wanna-trepreneur but runs several businesses, most of them during his time studying at the university.

Check out my interview with him.

Photo via [BBC]

When did you first recognise that you had an entrepreneurial spirit, and what is your first memory of you exercising that business acumen?

Paper boy > Lawnmower escapades

What was your first job?

When I was 12 I was a paper boy, then I realised I could double up my hard work. Every house I went to I left a flyer saying I would mow their lawns, that made about 5 times more than my paper round!

I’ve had loads of part time jobs during school and College. My only real full time job was being a Lorry driver for a year when I was 18. ( I was the youngest lorry driver in the country at one point (you had to be 21 but I got into a scheme and was the only one to pass)

Where did you grow up and what are your fondest memories of the area?

Wetherby. I had and still have a lot of great friends from there.

Which school did you attend, did you enjoy it and how well do you think school equipped you for life beyond it?

I went to Ashville College for 10 years and Wetherby High for 3. It equipped me to be a more well rounded individual.

Which university did you go to?

Huddersifeld Uni & Melbourne Uni I chose to study Logistics after my lorry driving days I thought I would set up a logistivs company (it’s way too cutthroat and start up costs don’t make it possible) Graduated in 2009

Tell me about your businesses?

Themastermenu.com – An online Takeaway Directory & Publication business with 900 Takeaways across the UK and Northern Ireland! We also print 10,000 Master Menu brochures advertising a collection of local takeaways menus for densely populated student areas (they are the biggest consumers of fast food)

Whitepumps.co.uk – an online retailer for cheap canvas pumps

0800Divert.me – A great money saving loophole! It costs up to 20p per minutes to dial 0800 & Freephone numbers from your mobile. With this workaround you can now download the app from the app store enter the 0800 number and it pre dials a local landline number then connects you as normal. If you don’t have an iPhone, you can save the landline numbers from 0800Divert.me website (so far we have saved the nation over 15,000 minutes in charged calls

All of my businesses are advertised in the Master Menu as it doesn’t cost me anything and it is delivered to our target demographic.

What first gave you the ideas to set each of them up?

Takeaway menus were constantly being delivered when I was a student in some cases up to 30 different menus per day. It was a light bulb moment. “ all of the takeaways are separately paying for their menus to be designed, printed and distributed “ I approached them with the idea of compiling the menu amongst their competitors and delivering one thicker, glossier brochure to their target market and it was an instant hit!

Whitepumps.co.uk was set up in a heartbeat as I saw so many students wearing these cheap canvas shoes. I met with the wholesaler of Primark and agreed to buy a figure off them. I was able to advertise the pumps in the Mater Menu brochure, which proved to be a great success.

0800Divert also came to me off the back of Master Menu. We have a server that generates landline numbers for our takeaways so with a bit of Telefonymagication it was up and running in no time!

Did you encounter any major problems when first setting up?

I experienced several problems at the beginning down to inexperience. I got ripped off with the first brochures i printed. Now looking back I think I paid almost 70% more than what I pay now and still managed to make a profit on the first publication!

Most days there is a technical problem but that is part of growing a business and learning along the way

When was Mastermenu first up and running? And how did you feel the first day the website went live?

The brochures were the first thing to kick off in 2008 whilst I was at Uni. The Website was launched in 2009. Both felt amazing when we got the first takeaway order notification!

What impact do you think your age had? And do you consider it to be a help or a hindrance?

I’ve never thought of it as either.. It’s nice to know that I have experienced this kind of work now rather than working for someone else for 25 years then giving it ago.

What motivates you to get up each morning and run the businesses?

If I didn’t get up, I wouldn’t have a business.. I look forward to new challenges as everyday is different.

Who else works with you? How many staff do you employ?

5 staff including Designers, Developers, Admin, several Sales Agents and 3 Franchisees across the UK

Why did you decide to stay in Yorkshire, rather than moving to London?

London hasn’t offered me anything more than Yorkshire has, it would just be higher rates and longer commutes!. By the way we have over 150 takeaways in London and I go down twice a month.

What do you love most about the North?

Yorkshire businesses are WAY more friendly than Londoners FACT ( I can say this as I have business in both)

With university fees rising, how much value do you place on the institution for young people today?

It’s a great place to open up your social network. However if you don’t have £9k to blow on this luxury I’d give it a miss.

What impact, if any, has your appearance on The Apprentice had on the businesses?

Priceless promotion, the website crashed when it got 1Million hits during my exit show, I am regularly invited to share my business start up experience with schools and colleges (this is solely down to being on the apprentice )

What was your highlight of the show?

I got praised quite a bit for having entrepreneurial talent and flare (it wasn’t all shown but it happened) I got top sales out of 15 candidates and also did pretty well on the magazine task.

What is your honest opinion of Alan Sugar?

He would have benefited having me as a business partner so in that respect I’d honestly have to say he made a mistake.

What advice do you have for budding entrepreneurs?

Go for it.. learn from your mistakes along the way. Any nay sayers are just jealous!

What do you think makes a successful business person?

Someone who is focussed on the targets they set and also someone who is likeable. People buy from people so if they don’t like you or trust you, you’ve got no chance!

What future plans do you have for the companies?

We are looking to grow the proven business model in the form of Franchising as we have already sold 3 this year and they are working out really well.

Just 12 months ago the three founders of Love Da Popcorn were working full time at advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi. They wanted to start something themselves and spotting  gap in the market for a range of  unique flavoured popcorn without being heavily loaded with sugar.

The three founders are Christian Hartmann, Martin McLaughlin and Tom Callard seem totally mad but that’s what makes the company really. The three brand experts have created exactly that, a fun loving, creative and slightly nuts brand for Love Da Popcorn and a lot of that image comes from the image of the three founders. They are looking to modernise and inject some life into the old popcorn treat and make it into a more modern mainstream snack.

On the 7th August Christian, Martin and Tom appeared on the Dragons Den TV show where they pitched Love Da Popcorn. They went in looking for £70,000 and they came out with exactly that after dragon Peter Jones was impressed enough to make an offer. The only problem is that in getting the investment they gave almost half the company away in equity, 45% to be precise.

The small business was built on the passion of the three young entrepreneurs, but after their grilling on Dragons Den a lot of questions were raised that could hamper there success. Thankfully they were able to raise the money they needed but more importantly, have the expertise of the world renowned Peter Jones on board, who can help take them to the next level.

The guys are very ambitious and there hunger for success will, I’m sure, go far.

“It’s been harder than we ever imagined, but it’s also a really exciting time for us. I don’t think any of us understood how difficult it can be to start a business, but we now have an amazing opportunity to make Love Da Popcorn a household name”.

…………………………………………….………………………………………………………….Tom Callard

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Check out their appearance on Dragons Den:

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Ben Atkinson-Willes is a 23 year old young entrepreneur from Kingston University in South West London where he is studying for a product and furniture design degree. The young entrepreneur was inspired by his ill grandfather for his venture Active-Minds. The company sells activity products for dementia patients.

The current products, which started as a part of his coursework, include jigsaw puzzles and a unique and reusable painting activity, both specially developed for people with Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

“It’s important to keep people with Alzheimer’s as physically and mentally active for as long as possible, because it gives them a better quality of life in the long run,” Ben explained. “One thing my granddad loves doing is puzzles, but the products with fewer pieces were generally designed for very young children. I wanted to create something that would suit his need and respect his age.”

Ben founded the company while in his second year at Kingston University after securing £5,000 funding from the University’s Entrepreneurial Grant Scheme, which enabled him to get the product designs and website created.

Ben has since gone on to win Pitch 2010, where he pitched his product to judges much like you would in Dragons Den. He won the top prize after coming through the south west heats and beating 6 other finalists to claim £50,000 of funding and support for his business.

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The entrepreneurial show Dragon’s Den has lost one of its Dragons after business man and entrepreneur James Caan revealed that he would be leaving the show, via Twitter.

He tweeted “After four fantastic seasons, I have made the decision to step down from the panel of the much loved ‘Dragon’s Den’.

“I have seen some excellent entrepreneurs and brilliant ideas and I thank them and all of the dragon’s for making it such great fun.

“I will be focusing on my existing investments and some exciting new projects,” he added.

Rumours of a rift between James Caan and Duncan Bannatyne still exist. The long running spat has been due to Caan’s non-dom status, which exempts him from UK taxes on overseas earnings.

In any case he will be missed from the show and the attention now turns to who will take over!

Michelle Mone, Sir James Dyson or maybe Michael O’Leary. Well it will certainly get viewers watching although I doubt O’Leary will be interested.

Who do you think will replace James Caan?

James Caan – The Real Deal: My Story from Brick Lane to Dragons’ Den

Jessica Grosvenor is a 25 year old British entrepreneur, who, on the 13th October won the much coveted Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2010. After a gruelling day in front of the judges, who included Duncan Bannatyne (from Dragons Den), the young entrepreneur from Wolverhampton picked up a prize of £10,000 to put toward her company, Freelance Training and Consultancy.

Having only started the business in April of this year, she has come a long way very quickly. She has so far managed to secure contracts worth a massive £1.46million. She is looking to use the £10,000 prize to start up hairdressing and healthcare academies.

Jessica started Freelance Training and Consultancy to help people who’ve been made redundant, in the recent economic downturn, retrain to find a new job. Her company now offers training and courses aimed at helping 16-18 year olds gain access to education and jobs by offering government-funded NVQs and technical certificates.

The company also offers courses in skills like Maths, English and ICT. This is in addition to training for teacher development qualifications and much more. The company is expanding quickly and always looking to offer more services.

The industry right now is booming and Jessica spotted an opportunity and took it with both hands.

I think it is great to see young entrepreneurs being recognised and supported at an early stage as they are the ones that can boost our economy, and with the recent announcement about an increase in university tuition fees, it could be that many more of the next generation turn to entrepreneurship straight out of school.

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Hundreds of business hopefuls have failed to secure investment on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den. As investors, the other dragons and I need to be convinced not only that the person asking for our money has a sound understanding of business, but also that they have entrepreneurial flair. All too often, the people entering the den seem to be high-calibre individuals who demonstrate excellent business knowledge but lack the skills required to turn their ideas into success stories.

The same goes for graduates and schoolleavers. Many young people entering the labour market do not seem to have the entrepreneurial skill-set needed by most employers. Up until now, we have simply not done enough to unlock the entrepreneurial talents of our young people.

Traditional business courses equip students with valuable theoretical business knowledge, but in the UK there is no consistent provision of enterprise education. This matters because enterprise and entrepreneurship drive economic growth.

To read the full report,click here

The Dragons are back for another series, and to be honest i can’t wait, the show is amazing!!

And if you don’t know about it …
Dragons’ Den sees entrepreneurs pitching for investment from some of Britain’s top business brains.

It is going to be airing Wednesday 15th July 21:00 – BBC Two and BBC HD

Is anyone planning on going to play in the den anytime soon?
What do you think of the show?
Who is your favourite person on the show?

To watch some old episodes and about more in fo on the programme
click here

I’m sure you all know peter Jones, and for you that don’t, he is a British businessman, most of us probably know him from his appearances in dragons den or American Inventor.
As of 2008 he is worth an estimated £157million, so take your time listening to what he has to say.