Entrepreneurs’ Tales

10.45-11.45 - Live interviews with successful entrepreneurs

This is your opportunity to hear from four entrepreneurs with an interesting story to tell. If you're looking to grow your business and want to get the inside track from entrepreneurs who've been there, seen it and done it, then this event is not to be missed. Here's who'll be joining us for Entrepreneurs' Tales:

Ritchie Clapson - Ritchie bought a structural engineering firm called NRM in 1998 with the express intention of growing it so it could be sold 10 years later. The next decade saw Ritchie grow the business, ensuring that every decision he made moved him closer towards his ultimate goal. After successfully completing 2 acquisitions, Ritchie was approached by Capita and eventually sold the business for several millions in 2008 (nearly 10 years to the day after he bought NRM).

Dominic Monkhouse - Part of founding team at Rackspace, the market-leading hosting provider, Dominic grew the business from 4 to 150 staff in just a few years before leaving to become MD of IT Lab, where he was able to quickly transform the company into the fastest growing IT service provider in the UK SME market. Dominic is now MD of PEER1 Hosting and is looking to repeat his astonishing business success for a third time. Dominic is a regular public speaker on creating great places to work and customer satisfaction and is an assessor on The Sunday Times Customer Experience Awards.

 Avril Owton, MBE - Owner of the award-winning Cloud Hotel in Brockenhurst, best-selling author with "Delighting Your Customers" and voted one of the 'Top 100 most influential women in the travel industry'. Avril became the sole owner of The Cloud Hotel in 1991 after the sudden death of her husband, when she was left with 4 children and a failing hotel. She readily admits that she didn’t know a bottom line from a chorus line, as she had been a dancer in her previous career. Twenty years later and Avril has an award-winning and profitable hotel and was appointed the MBE in 2008 for her services to hospitality.

  Paul Thomas - Paul is a serial entrepreneur, setting up his first business at the age of 13. Now the MD of Market Makers, a marketing company that has been in The Sunday Times '100 Best Companies To Work For' for the past 3 years, Paul is focused on continuing the firm's rapid growth to date and adding to Market Makers' long list of impressive blue chip clients.