Up next in 10
Are we destined to limp along, or can we turn the UK economy around? City AM Editor-in-Chief Christian May sits down with two successful entrepreneurs, Stephen Fitzpatrick and Brent Hoberman, to discuss the launch of Enterprise Britain.
This new movement aims to shift the national mindset from risk aversion towards a culture of entrepreneurship and shared prosperity. City AM dives deep into the "culture of resistance" facing business in the UK, the need for a government with an entrepreneurial mindset, and radical ideas like banning non-compete clauses to speed up the economy.
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0:00
The Green Party [music] particularly
0:01
think that fairness and equality is far
0:03
more important than growth. That doesn't
0:05
sound like a recipe [music] for success
0:06
to me, but it does. It is popular,
0:08
weirdly.
0:13
[music]
0:21
Entrepreneurs [music] can solve problems
0:23
that can help society at all levels. I
0:26
think in the UK we are making it harder
0:28
than it needs to be to grow and to scale
0:31
companies.
0:40
It's part of the role of business
0:41
leaders [music] I think put forward the
0:43
case for why business should be a
0:45
positive role in society and if we don't
0:48
then you know we probably deserve what
0:49
we get.
0:50
>> Are we wasting our potential? Have we
0:52
given in to a narrative of decline? Are
0:54
we destined to limp along, battered by
0:57
events and be let down by politicians?
0:59
Or can we turn things around? I'm joined
1:02
today by two people who believe that we
1:03
can and that we must. They are two of
1:06
this country's most successful
1:07
entrepreneurs, Steven Fitzpatrick and
1:09
Brent Hobberman. And together they've
1:11
launched Enterprise Britain, a campaign,
1:13
a movement in fact, aimed at helping
1:15
Britain get its mojo back. And I'm
1:17
delighted to say they're with me now to
1:19
talk about this important project.
1:22
Jensen, welcome to City AM.
1:24
>> Uh, I've read this report thoroughly
1:26
and, uh, we've covered it in City AM. I
1:28
know you've generated a huge debate, uh,
1:30
in the media already, so well done for,
1:32
for an epic launch. Um, there's an awful
1:35
lot to talk about. Um, you are co-chairs
1:38
of this new organization. Stephen, you
1:39
say in your introductory letter, by way
1:43
of a bit of a scene setter, that over
1:44
recent years, we've increased the amount
1:46
of resistance businesses face in this
1:48
country. What do you mean by that?
1:51
Well, um, it should be hard to start a
1:55
company, to create something, to grow
1:58
it, to scale it. It's it's always a
2:00
challenge. It's it's super hard to start
2:02
an a successful company. I think in the
2:05
UK, we are making it harder than it
2:07
needs to be to grow and to scale
2:09
companies. We've had this great culture
2:12
for as long as I can remember, certainly
2:14
since I um
2:17
graduated university, of
2:18
entrepreneurialism. We're great at
2:20
starting companies. I think we put a lot
2:23
of barriers
2:25
in the way of scaling companies and
2:27
that's both from a policy perspective,
2:29
regulation, but also some there's some
2:31
cultural issues that just really slow
2:35
the growth of businesses down at a time
2:37
when in the rest of the world we see
2:39
this great acceleration.
2:40
>> Can you pinpoint when that sort of began
2:43
to become most noticeable? Presumably,
2:45
this isn't specific to one government or
2:47
one political agenda. This is something
2:48
which has been what building up sort of
2:50
cumulatively.
2:52
>> Yeah, I think it may have been building
2:55
up uh you know going back to the 2008
2:58
financial crisis. I think that's a time
3:00
when it
3:03
my own experience there was a quite a
3:06
strong risk appetite and a belief in
3:07
growth. Then we had this enormous shock.
3:10
I think culturally that was a you a huge
3:11
moment not just in the UK around the
3:13
world and we saw politicians, regulators
3:16
and people in more in the public sector
3:18
thinking they needed to protect the
3:20
public more from these kind of sh risk
3:23
aversion that
3:24
>> fragile well-intentioned to begin with
3:26
and no doubt but I think that just an
3:28
increasing expectation that you can take
3:31
the risk out of business take the risk
3:33
out of life and I and I think you end up
3:35
in a situation where in trying to avoid
3:38
risk
3:40
you reduce ambition and you put that
3:43
barrier or the friction in the way of of
3:45
scaling great companies.
3:46
>> Okay. Um Brent, um one of the things
3:50
that you point out in the document is
3:53
that uh for Britain to thrive in what
3:56
you call a rapidly changing world. It's
3:58
the government that will need to have an
3:59
entrepreneurial mindset and as you put
4:02
it move at the speed of business. Well,
4:04
a criticism we hear not just of the
4:06
current Labor government but of
4:08
governments over many years is that they
4:10
don't have that instinctive feeling of
4:12
what it takes to launch, grow, run a
4:15
business. Even you just talked about
4:16
some of the sort of cultural kind of
4:18
risk aversion um mindset that gets baked
4:21
into a lot of of institutions. This is a
4:24
government that said before the election
4:26
it would be the most pro business
4:28
government this country has ever seen.
4:30
Where do you think they land on that
4:32
score? It's a bold claim, but you know,
4:34
are they going to welcome your sorts of
4:36
proposals and we'll get into your
4:37
proposals? Um, because if they, you
4:39
know, follow through with the claim of
4:41
being the most pro business government
4:42
ever, you'd think this would be right up
4:43
their street. I think, look, we're this
4:46
movement is not political. It's it's
4:48
broader than that. So, I think there are
4:50
lots of things at Stephen saying that
4:51
have built up which has made government
4:53
slower since 2008 and since um a lot and
4:56
even before that because last was even
4:58
was even before that. I think there is
5:00
so there's this body of regulation
5:02
that's built up. There's also um this
5:04
anti-risk culture um and there's also a
5:07
lack of pace. The world is moving faster
5:09
and we're seeing other countries be very
5:12
dynamic and move very fast. Now yes, the
5:14
other thing is business is used to
5:15
moving faster than governments and there
5:16
are very few people with business
5:18
experience in in the government and and
5:21
even in the in and even not that many in
5:23
in the past government. So um I I think
5:26
business people are used to um And one
5:29
of the reason why so few business people
5:31
go into politics is is because they they
5:33
are used to controlling their destiny.
5:35
They're used to seeing an action. Um and
5:37
I've heard very senior politicians say
5:39
that they are struck by how even the
5:42
power of number 10 historically has
5:44
dissipated. So the levers even when you
5:47
are prime minister are limited. And so I
5:51
think partly you know that is also
5:53
because things one of the things we're
5:55
trying to do is make business more
5:56
popular make entrepreneurship more
5:58
popular and business more popular. If
6:00
things are if business is more popular
6:02
then it's going to be easier for
6:04
governments to take the risks. So that's
6:06
the sort of positive loop we're trying
6:08
to feed. And some of that you'll see is
6:10
about being a nation of shareholders or
6:12
stakeholders where people when they read
6:15
about other people's success, they don't
6:17
have that very British word shardan
6:19
freder um but they delight um because
6:22
they feel some ownership and some part
6:24
of that success. One of the things that
6:26
I think sets out your report from a lot
6:29
of other organizations, worthy
6:30
organizations that are forever putting
6:32
out policy papers and recommendations is
6:34
that, as you just touched on, Brent, you
6:35
set the scene for the fact that
6:37
culturally perhaps not as receptive to
6:40
the idea that that growing businesses,
6:42
growing the economy, uh, are, you know,
6:44
endeavors that are in and of themselves
6:46
good and worthy things. And some of the
6:48
polling that you've done as part of your
6:50
research shows a very very small number
6:52
of people who say that um they sense a
6:56
positive impact for themselves when the
6:57
economy grows. Now we haven't had a lot
6:59
of growth. So maybe people have
7:00
forgotten what that feels like but you
7:02
know a very small number of people who
7:03
are engaged in retail investing or or
7:05
being more sort of proactive of their
7:07
own um pension and finances. And
7:10
strikingly, Stephen, only 22% of people
7:13
say that they feel a positive impact
7:14
when the company they work for does
7:16
well.
7:18
>> Yeah, I think we have, you've hit on
7:20
something really important, and this is
7:21
again to Brent's point. We don't expect
7:26
politicians of any party to try to enact
7:29
something that's deeply unpopular. And
7:31
it's it's part of the role of business
7:33
leaders, I think, to to put forward the
7:36
case for why business should be uh and
7:39
should have a a positive role in
7:41
society. And if we don't, then you know,
7:44
we probably deserve what we get. I think
7:46
that's that's the reality.
7:47
>> So when you talk about low participation
7:49
in retail investing, I think this is
7:51
something we've been doing a lot of um
7:53
investigating in polling and research
7:55
on. 8% of uh UK household wealth is
7:59
invested in equities. Not just UK
8:01
equities, equities globally. This goes
8:03
back to a policy change, I think it was
8:04
1997, a change in pension regulations
8:07
that
8:09
in encouraged or even forced pensions to
8:12
hold fixed income assets over equities.
8:15
And it was through risk aversion because
8:18
equities are risky. They go up and they
8:19
go down. And the problem is over 25
8:21
years now 20 almost 30 years you see the
8:24
participation both in pension funds
8:26
retail investors investing in UK
8:28
equities go down and down and down until
8:30
you get to the point where so few people
8:33
benefit from the success of British
8:35
companies that you know they are right
8:38
they say they they they don't feel the
8:40
benefit of economic growth they don't
8:41
feel the benefit of company success
8:43
because they're not invested in it
8:45
>> and they don't feel necessarily the
8:46
benefit of the footsie hitting a record
8:48
high which it's been doing recently. Um
8:50
in contrast perhaps for example in the
8:52
states where famously you know you can
8:55
have a conversation about your portfolio
8:57
with your cab driver and you know
8:58
>> enthusiastic one
9:00
>> they're literally invested. Brent you
9:03
you talk a lot in this report about how
9:06
there is a sense of doom and declinism
9:08
at the moment and you know you can blame
9:10
the media parts of the media for that
9:12
I'm sure. Um but you make a concerted
9:16
effort to say that's not our destiny and
9:18
you talk in in quite uplifting terms. Um
9:21
which is great by the way to hear
9:22
business figures and entrepreneurs
9:24
speaking in these terms about the need
9:26
to rally people around a clear and
9:28
uplifting vision for the future. Now you
9:30
said that this is not a political
9:32
project but that that feels like the
9:33
bare bones of a sort of political stump
9:35
speech. So who in our political
9:37
landscape these days is making that sort
9:40
of vision? you know, they're taking
9:42
ripping shreds off each other and and
9:43
and pointing out each other's flaws, of
9:44
course, and we're engaged in that, too.
9:46
But who is saying, "Come with me. We'll
9:48
go over there. It'll be great."
9:50
>> I think, look, there are people in each
9:51
of the main parties, and of course, the
9:53
chancellor is doing a review on
9:55
entrepreneurship and tax breaks and
9:56
stuff and has a um an an envoy, an
9:59
entrepreneurship envoy, and Alex Pledge.
10:01
>> So, there are going to talk about tax
10:04
incentives.
10:04
>> So, there are a range of things the
10:05
government's doing. Um and and and
10:07
obviously you've got opposition parties
10:09
talking about this as well. Andrew
10:10
Griffith from the Conservatives, the
10:12
shadow business minister as you know. Um
10:14
but the point that we're making,
10:16
Stephen's made again, is if it's not
10:18
popular, they won't get it through. And
10:20
their MPs and and it's too short termist
10:23
too. The other the other terrible
10:25
tragedy about politics.
10:26
>> Yeah.
10:26
>> Is it so short- termist? And the other
10:28
tragedy about the stock market actually
10:30
is it's very short termist. I was at a
10:32
dinner last night where someone from
10:34
McKenzie was expanding about why this
10:36
why does our stock market actually
10:37
generally not do as well and why are
10:39
less companies public and all of that
10:40
sort of stuff and some of it is due to
10:42
large amount of passive funds people
10:44
just in and out trading. If you say
10:46
you're investing and there was someone
10:47
there from BT said if BT say they're
10:49
investing five billion for long term
10:50
their share price tanks this was this
10:52
was historic um because the markets are
10:54
not a lot of people are income investors
10:56
and they're not looking for long term.
10:58
So, so the point on the politics of it
11:00
is absolutely we we're calling for an
11:03
entrepreneurship minister and a talent
11:05
minister. So what's that mean? That
11:06
means somebody who can really go out
11:08
there and b back b and beat the drum for
11:11
business. Obviously you also have Lord
11:13
Jason Stockford who I'm happy to say
11:14
used to work at lastminute.com who is
11:16
now our investment minister. And so
11:18
people like him and puppy Gustson before
11:19
him are out there beating the drum. But
11:22
it's not enough. And the other problem
11:24
is if there are elements for example of
11:26
the Labor party that
11:28
>> that are that don't support business
11:31
bluntly um that think that equality like
11:34
the Green Party particularly think that
11:36
fairness and equality is far more
11:38
important than growth
11:39
>> and that it's achieved through wealth
11:40
taxes in particular and that sort of
11:42
>> yeah they would rather I I having heard
11:44
Zach debate with Jeremy Hunt it sounded
11:46
like he was pretty clear when Jeremy
11:47
Hunt debated this he would rather the
11:48
whole country was poorer that and more
11:50
equal. That doesn't sound like a recipe
11:53
for success to me, but it does. It is
11:55
popular, weirdly.
11:56
>> Yes. And that's part of the problem
11:59
here, isn't it, Stephen? That uh you
12:02
know, this government in particular used
12:04
to talk about growth a lot as its number
12:06
one mission. Growth is quite an abstract
12:08
concept to most people most of the time.
12:10
So, StarMar has recognized that. He
12:12
talks now instead just about cost of
12:13
living. Um and again, you know, that has
12:17
pretty particular connotations. Why
12:19
don't we talk as a country, as as as as
12:21
a government about getting richer,
12:23
feeling richer, being richer,
12:25
prosperity? Prosperity is what we're all
12:27
in search of. And you know, people, you
12:29
could argue the toss as whether
12:31
prosperity is, you know, ambiguous in
12:33
the way that growth is. But being
12:35
richer, feeling richer, and the benefits
12:37
of that, whether that's for public
12:38
services or indeed for your personal
12:40
pocket, we don't feel comfortable having
12:42
that conversation, do we?
12:44
>> I'm not sure I would agree with that. I
12:46
think
12:48
I hear a lot of talk about shared
12:50
prosperity. It's a term that I really
12:52
like. It's it feels overused. But one of
12:55
the great things I really believe about
12:57
business is that when it's done well,
13:00
it's not a zero- sum game. I think in
13:02
the UK, we have this mindset
13:05
and in Europe as well, I think, where
13:08
there's a distrust in large business in
13:11
particular, and you'll see that in in
13:12
some of the numbers in in our research.
13:14
There's a distrust in large business.
13:16
There's a just a an implied or an
13:19
assumption that somehow profits are a
13:22
illgotten game that if in a zero sum
13:24
world for a company to make a profit it
13:27
must be taking something from somebody
13:29
else. The great thing about the belief
13:31
in innovation and abundance is that
13:34
through hard work and good execution and
13:36
a great idea and lots of you know
13:39
building great companies you create new
13:41
value in society. If you look at the
13:42
advances in technology that gives us a
13:44
mobile phone, the internet, the car, the
13:46
electric vehicle, what whatever it might
13:48
be, it makes the world a better place.
13:50
And and I think if you believe in that,
13:53
that's the role of business to innovate,
13:54
to deliver services to customers, um to
13:57
compete, then you create a world where
14:01
everybody can be better off at the same
14:02
time. That's shared prosperity. I think
14:04
in the UK this idea that and and and I
14:07
think it is it's a there's a suspicion
14:10
amongst people that aren't exposed to
14:11
business. I think Brent's right. There
14:13
aren't a lot of people in politics or
14:14
the civil service that have a business
14:16
background. I would say that's all
14:18
right, but I don't really think we speak
14:22
the same language. I think politicians
14:25
hear what business people have to say
14:27
and vice versa, but I don't think we
14:28
really understand each other very well.
14:30
And so where you have a world where you
14:33
have this
14:35
group of people setting the the rules of
14:37
the context for business believing that
14:38
it's a zero sum game
14:41
then you don't allow this the space for
14:44
great companies to innovate and thrive
14:45
and grow and and build shared
14:48
prosperity. So it's what everybody
14:49
wants. I think we just have different
14:51
views of how to get there.
14:52
>> Okay. So you have specifically referred
14:54
to shared prosperity uh as an
14:56
alternative for and you've been quite
14:58
critical in some of your writing here of
15:00
trickle down economics. I have to say
15:02
not a phrase I've heard for a while but
15:04
it used to be um you know sort of public
15:06
enemy number one. That idea um that let
15:08
business grow, let people accumulate
15:10
wealth and it will find its way down
15:11
through the economy. Ed Miban was
15:13
against it, Jeremy Corbyn was against
15:15
it. It's not something you hear many
15:16
people make the argument for here these
15:18
days outside of the Odd City AM leader
15:20
column. Is that just cover for you to
15:23
then put forward your proposals to
15:25
reverse the abolition of non-doms, cut
15:27
taxes on employers, give some more tax
15:29
breaks to venture capital? Are you
15:31
recognizing that in order to make the
15:32
case for some pretty, you know, pretty
15:35
uh fullthroated pro business reforms?
15:38
You've just got to say, but actually,
15:40
you know, we don't like trickle down
15:41
economics.
15:42
>> I don't think you just have to say it.
15:43
You have to do it. I think what we're
15:44
saying is yeah I think when you you you
15:46
mentioned AI so you could talk about
15:48
going to the I think one of the things
15:49
everyone's worried about AI will be more
15:51
extreme the uh the the owners of the AI
15:53
models and those sort of things will
15:55
will get will generate enormous profits
15:57
and then where does that go to everybody
15:59
else so you have to make sure that
16:01
everybody else can benefit. So I think
16:03
it it's it's a recognition that it would
16:05
be naive to say just give business
16:07
everything at once and that'll be
16:10
popular because what what we are going
16:12
on to say is you know the key thing here
16:14
is you have to get a broad sway of the
16:18
population to understand and benefit and
16:20
not just to understand but to actually
16:21
benefit from business and so anything we
16:23
can do to do that will help and yes
16:25
we're also saying that it does seem mad
16:28
that a country like Italy is out there
16:30
campaigning to attract brilliant people
16:32
from across the world who are going to
16:34
invest in it and the the UK has been
16:37
doing in some elements the reverse. So
16:39
looking at some of the specific policies
16:41
um quite interesting because there are
16:44
there are some interesting ones um
16:45
they're all quite interesting but there
16:46
are some interesting ones about you know
16:48
tax incentives and investment incentives
16:49
and reliefs and allowances etc. But but
16:52
some of these are quite creative in
16:54
sense we don't hear them very often. um
16:56
giving people the power to reduce their
16:58
nosis period so you can speed up you
17:01
know give people agency over the speed
17:02
at which they move between jobs and
17:04
presumably at the same time as you put
17:05
here banning noncompete clauses I mean
17:08
the these are quite radical um ideas
17:11
about kind of injecting some more
17:13
dynamism into the labor market but not
17:15
necessarily at the expense you know
17:17
you're not talking about rolling back
17:18
workers rights you're talking about
17:20
giving people more agency over how they
17:22
move between their careers etc is that
17:24
born out of experience you've had as as
17:26
an employer. It's one of the most
17:28
frustrating
17:30
aspects of growing a business in the UK
17:33
uh and and Europe. I mean, I would say
17:35
the US is the is the outlier here. And I
17:37
think that's one of the main reasons why
17:39
it is able to grow such dynamic and
17:42
innovative companies that in the early
17:44
years of starting a business everyday
17:47
cons um you're trying to raise money,
17:50
you're trying to get customers, you're
17:51
trying to attract talent, you're trying
17:53
to get momentum and the the the growth
17:57
dynamic of small successful companies is
17:59
exponential.
18:01
And so a year wa w w w w w w w w w w w w
18:03
w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w
18:03
w w w w w w w wed or lost at the start.
18:05
You know, it'll cost you so much more
18:06
three or four years in in the UK, one of
18:10
my great frustrations in in growing OO
18:12
and vertical aerospace other businesses
18:14
is identifying the need having the
18:19
willingness or the need to create new
18:21
jobs. We need the talent to get the the
18:24
mission done. Find the right person. It
18:27
takes a little while, four or six weeks
18:29
to, you know, create a role, interview,
18:31
identify, make an offer, done, and then
18:34
it's, okay, now you got to wait three
18:35
months, maybe even six months. And six
18:38
months is a lifetime for a startup. And
18:40
so the idea that to attract a senior
18:42
individual, they're going to be in a
18:43
six-month notice period, then they
18:46
arrive, and then they have to get
18:47
started. And so the the incubation
18:50
period that the those early years in
18:52
particular when the the time to market
18:55
or speed of execution matters. so much.
18:57
We're at a real disadvantage to the US
19:00
where most employees can start work in
19:02
two weeks. And so that's not to say we
19:05
want people, you know, being hired and
19:07
fired and and and as you said to not to
19:09
reduce workers rights or security. I
19:11
think it's incumbent upon companies to
19:13
be able to offer security to employees
19:15
if that's what they if that's what they
19:16
value. Um, but the ability for employees
19:21
to give one month's notice and then
19:23
leave to join a job that they've chosen
19:25
to go to. Speeding up the velocity of
19:28
talent would would transform the rate of
19:32
scale up in the UK. Not company
19:34
creation. We're really good at that part
19:35
where we need to grow global champions
19:37
to scale up to to the hundreds or
19:39
thousands of employees. Uh, being able
19:42
to attract talent and have them start
19:44
sooner will have a transformational
19:46
effect. So that's just sorry just the
19:48
one line on that. It's just um
19:49
California versus Boston. You know
19:51
Silicon Valley exists because because of
19:52
this and otherwise it would have been in
19:54
Boston.
19:54
>> Venture capital was invented in Boston
19:57
>> but perfected in California because they
19:59
ban non-competes
20:02
>> and and look where that got them. Yeah.
20:04
I think you I mean it's looking pretty
20:06
good.
20:06
>> Yeah. Yeah. Well quite I mean you can
20:07
see exactly um the benefits of of that
20:10
sort of dynamism. Um so that's just one
20:13
issue around maybe 30 or 40 that you've
20:15
highlighted and that you've got ideas
20:16
around. I would urge people to read the
20:19
document. Brent question is what's the
20:21
prize that's on offer? Say all of this
20:24
was enacted. Say that there was
20:25
consensus across political parties that
20:27
yes this is what we've been missing.
20:29
This is what we should do and you know
20:31
over the course of the next couple of
20:33
years all of these sorts of changes come
20:35
in. Paint us a picture of why that's
20:37
valuable. What are you fighting for
20:38
here? talent, energy, optimism, gross
20:42
national happiness, you know, um all all
20:44
of those things will will will acrue. Um
20:46
and for the UK to be one of the most
20:49
dynamic economies in the world that that
20:51
goes, you know, where where it has
20:53
historically been as as the magnet for
20:55
global talent and the envy of the world.
20:57
So there's a vision where everybody, you
21:00
know, so many more people want to start
21:01
a business. They feel it's exciting.
21:03
They're able to scale it. They look up
21:05
to people. There's there's some other
21:06
data we report on that people don't in
21:08
the UK it's amazing people still if you
21:10
ask young people who they think of as an
21:11
entrepreneur mostly they can't name one
21:13
if they can name one it's the wonderful
21:14
75-year-old Richard Branson um so you
21:17
know there aren't modern icons of
21:20
entrepreneurship now um so we need to do
21:22
that so I you know I would say this as
21:24
an entrepreneur but I do think um I
21:28
entrepreneurs can solve problems that
21:30
can help society at all at all levels um
21:33
whether it's education
21:35
whether it's um solving curing cancer,
21:38
all of these things will come from
21:41
entrepreneurs and everybody will will
21:44
benefit.
21:45
>> So finally, what stops this document
21:47
from sitting on a shelf and gathering
21:50
dust after a warm reception and some
21:52
good editorials? What's the plan for it?
21:54
What are you going to do with it? looks
21:55
even closer too. I I I think one of the
21:56
things is look if we could point to one
21:58
one key success factor would be can we
22:01
point to business entrepreneurship all
22:03
of these things being more popular and
22:05
then as a direct result of that more of
22:07
these policies being enacted. So I and
22:10
then the other thing is often you do
22:12
talk to politicians historically where
22:14
they say look I'd love to do this but I
22:16
need a broad sway of people demanding it
22:19
and they will sometimes say to us go and
22:21
get a thousand entrepreneurs saying they
22:23
want this and then we can table it and
22:25
and and review it and look at it and
22:27
action it hopefully. So I I think it's,
22:31
you know, it it's giving the politicians
22:34
the right to be bolder, to act faster,
22:37
and to be more pro business.
22:40
>> Stephen, you going to march on Downing
22:41
Street with this?
22:44
>> I don't think a march on Ding Street is
22:46
quite the right answer. I think honestly
22:48
to just to echo what Brent said, I'd
22:51
love to create an environment where the
22:54
UK feels as optimistic
22:57
and uh energetic a place as it did when
23:00
I graduated university and I wanted to
23:03
start my own company. I was following in
23:05
Bren's footsteps. I mean, I graduated in
23:07
2000, the year that lastminute.com went
23:09
public and everything seemed possible.
23:12
We both have um children uh growing up
23:15
in the UK and I would love to think when
23:18
they are graduating university we have
23:20
that same sense of dynamism, optimism,
23:22
energy. We have a line in the report I
23:24
really like that the future belongs to
23:26
those who build it. And at the moment
23:28
what I see the most important
23:29
technologies, the most successful
23:30
companies, they're being built somewhere
23:32
else. And there is, as as Brent said,
23:36
there's a vision of Britain where we
23:38
become that uh magnet for talent that we
23:42
are able to retain our best talent in
23:44
the UK. Um that people choose to come to
23:47
the UK to start businesses, that people
23:49
want to invest in British companies. It
23:51
will be it'll benefit all of society.
23:55
Um, so there's a that very exciting
23:57
vision.
23:58
The alternative is not a disaster. We
24:02
said it's we're still a great this is a
24:04
great country to do business in, but
24:05
it's just getting a little bit harder
24:06
every day. And so if that carries on,
24:09
then I think we're going to get further
24:10
and further behind to a point where it
24:12
may not be possible to recover.
24:14
>> Well, some other countries can be a bit
24:16
more dynamic. But can I finish on on on
24:19
one thing that today the your front
24:21
cover is a great example of what can
24:23
happen. Um, Wave is on the the
24:25
autonomous car company is on the cover
24:27
for for a $9 billion valuation. Um,
24:30
selfish I will say we were seed
24:32
investors. Um, but what that means is
24:34
wave I love I love the the story because
24:37
actually it's a New Zealand entrepreneur
24:39
Alex Kendall who came over studied under
24:41
a brilliant professor Roberto Chipella
24:43
at Cambridge. um spun out his company,
24:46
got some local investors but a lot from
24:48
abroad and then did partnerships with
24:50
large UK corporates like Asda and Aardo
24:53
to collect his data. Um so you've got
24:56
all of that um all of and also benefited
24:58
from the huge talent pool and the great
25:01
institutions that there are here
25:02
breeding that talent and now we're
25:04
seeing that this is likely now I would
25:06
say based on his recent announcement to
25:08
be a world leader in um in in in
25:12
physical AI which is one of the most
25:14
important things for the future.
25:15
>> So when we get it right we really get it
25:17
right but the stakes are very high. So,
25:20
uh, I commend you for what you've put
25:22
together, Enterprise Britain. Um, I
25:24
think people should find the report,
25:26
read it. You've got a great advisory
25:27
board and I'm sure you're open for
25:29
people who want to come along and find
25:30
out more and join in the effort. So,
25:33
Bren Hobman and Steven Fitzpatrick,
25:34
thank you very much for coming into City
25:36
AM. Thank you.
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