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How this CEO inspires young creators to design their future | More than Money
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Oct 7, 2024
In this episode of More than Money, City A.M.'s multimedia journalist Larissa Howie visits Business by Design, a free academy for young people between the ages of 18-20. She speaks with Kurt Geiger’s CEO Neil Clifford about his motive behind the project and discovers why he’s passionate about helping give young people a leg up. The academy, launched by the Kurt Geiger Kindness Foundation, focuses on helping those from underrepresented backgrounds enter the creative industry. But is there more to it than money? Get more of City A.M. 👇 🌐 http://www.cityam.com X(formerly Twitter): http://twitter.com/CityAM Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cityam Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/city_am LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/cityam #kurtgeiger #fashion #ceo #charity #design #creativeindustries #lifestory #interview #businessbydesign #london #kindness #mentor #study #education #academy
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0:00
You know, we do it all here. We run a company from start to finish
0:06
Why don't we share some of that knowledge for free? That's really where the Business by Design Academy came from
0:16
Hi guys, I'm here with Neil Clifford today and we are at Kurt Geiger
0:21
And what are we about to come and see today? Well, we are super excited to show you our new academy
0:27
It's called Business by Design. and it's part of our charitable foundation where we're helping a lot of young people
0:33
get into the creative industries like this place. Well, should we go through and see where the magic happens
0:41
How big of a risk was this from a business perspective? Well, it will cost us about a million pounds a year, right
0:49
So it's not insignificant. We fund that. It's part of our mission of kindness, I suppose, as you can see
0:55
It's part of our purpose to help young people. people and... And I guess in a way we were talking about this, it sort of pays off because if you're
1:04
getting really well trained people in who might end up working... Definitely, definitely. Definitely
1:11
Well, we employ 2,500 people across the globe. So actually, we're recruiting maybe 100 or 200 a year growing the company
1:23
So we'd love... That's our goal really to have all these people as many as possible
1:28
employed in the company. So we talked a little bit down in the classroom
1:38
about how you remember being in the same position about as those students were
1:43
Can you take me back to the moment when you decided I want to do retail
1:48
I want to do fashion? Yeah. Well, I am dyslexic with a bit of ADHD sprinkled on top I think too think too And therefore school was a struggle for me I had lots of ambition lots of energy I knew I wanted to you know be as successful as I could
2:06
but I had no idea how to do it. I quite liked money, you know, as you do when you're 17
2:12
but I didn't really have a clue what to do. So that was, school was always difficult for me
2:17
And that's, you know, we'll come back to that and why part of what we've been doing here
2:26
So you say you were salesmen? Yep. Well, I cleaned toilets at IBM, importsmut
2:36
Which actually you can always get the positives out of any job
2:40
You know, that was, that helped me buy my keyboard because I was in a band
2:44
So I cleaned toilets. I then worked in the parts department in the Fiat garage
2:48
I then cut keys and delivered gas bottles at a sort of open all hours hardware shop
2:54
But I smell of paraffin. And then I thought, well, I've got to get a posher job where I don't smell
3:01
And that's how I got the job in Debenham's in Sousey selling Burton's suits
3:07
And I really had an amazing, fast career from then on. Within three years of being a suit salesman, I was the number one store manager in the company
3:21
Everyone's sick of hearing about COVID, but that must have been a challenge
3:25
a challenge but I it changed the company for the better actually even though you can't
3:32
really say that because it was such a dreadful time but we definitely embraced change
3:39
2019 was a record year 40 million EBITDA the best profits we've ever done
3:44
highest sales then suddenly we're almost bankrupt within 14 weeks amazing that you turned something that was such a terrible situation and you can make
3:54
Actually, we had no choice. We thought we're probably bust. Yeah So we going to go down in flames We going to go down positively We going to do something good because we can sell these handbags or shoes because the shops aren open the warehouse is closed
4:12
Let's turn it into something at least good. So when we've all got to find new jobs
4:19
maybe people will remember us that we did something in such a dark time
4:28
You know, we do it all here. We run a company from start to finish
4:37
Why don't we share some of that knowledge for free? That's really where the Business by Design Academy came from
4:43
And we then went and created a whole, you know, a formalised charity, which takes a long time
4:48
We've put a million pounds of our own money annually into that charity. And how do we help young people that have got these barriers to their ambition
4:58
that maybe haven't got a mum or dad who works in the industry
5:03
got the money they can go to an amazing university, got the confidence from their family that they can get an internship for a year
5:11
without having to worry about money. I think more importantly, look at these amazing boots who's designing
5:17
This is so cool. You said that you've never done this before. I've never done this before
5:21
That's all your own design. This is my own design. I kind of level up my skill with this one
5:25
is to have it all very open-minded when coming to the sketches and the designs you make
5:28
But you can never forget your inspiration as well, as you can see it on my new board as well
5:32
You've got all the textures together to kind of give that dark look as well
5:36
So it's a nice green that. Yeah, so it's like over here as well in the artwork, kind of implemented everything
5:42
So from the car to the color, the color of the car over here as well, which is over the beats
5:47
You got the dark with the rolls and everything. This is, I think it's a Porsche, old Porsche maybe
5:52
And then, yeah, that's how it's been. We leave this. I'll put the Kij over there
5:58
to have that you can never forget the cut gag or symbols and everything So what makes you excited about doing this Why fashion why shoes why retail I mean it all starts from a young kid with a dream who wants to become a fashion designer
6:14
himself, or fashion entrepreneur. So to kind of have this experience and to have this level
6:19
of help from the team, especially Jade and everyone else as well, it's, I can be more than
6:29
a speech list, honestly. talking to Joelle before seeing his sort of vision board you know he's riding down yeah can you
6:35
see that in the kids downstairs well i think everyone's got it yeah i think everyone's got it
6:41
and i think you just have to find it don't you that's that's the i suppose a sad reality that
6:47
there are lots of young people that don't have the luck that i had and that's part of the ambition
6:55
of business by design do you remember being in a position oh i remember totally being in
7:00
this position and I think we all do we never forget where we started
7:05
What advice would you give somebody who really wants to be in a position that you're in
7:16
Oh I could say lots of things but I mean always dream. Dreaming is good
7:21
Work hard. There's no... Clean some toilets. Yeah, love work really, love work. Whatever job you're doing is
7:30
It's easy for me to say that now, but I have enjoyed cleaning toilets. So I've not gone through a posh university and, you know, ended up being a CEO easily
7:40
You know, it's been a long journey. Enjoy the journey, enjoy hard work
7:45
Read the financial times. Even though I'm... Read City AM. City AM, of course
7:50
There's no real replacement for loving work. I wish there was because I'd play more tennis
7:57
But love work is good
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