Simon Woodroffe
Founder of Yo! Sushi
“I really think our society has been entrepreneurial throughout history. In the 18th and 19th centuries UK businesses conquered the world. We are not a nation of shop keepers, we are nation of entrepreneurs. This new attention is a renaissance of old habits. This moment will decide the UK’s destiny, and our direction for the next 100 years. We are no longer a manufacturing nation, but a nation of scientists and entrepreneurs who are shaping UK foundations in chemical, biological, and engineering businesses.
Invention and science will, in the long term, solve many of the problems of humankind and create the most happiness. Technological progress has helped us make great leaps before. New communications technology has provided a fantastic means of connecting people’s thoughts. This is an amazing opportunity. If we put our energy toward more science and innovation we could imagine a world where every single brain had access to every other brain, and business ideas would take-off in no time. It sounds crazy, but it could change business overnight. Look what instant messages did for working from home! Britain needs to see itself as an entrepreneurial nation ready to take advantage of this revival.
This depends entirely on education. We have children who at 11 and 13 have great imagination and live in a world of ideas. Over the next 7 years we then put them through the trauma of the exam system scaring them away from failure. We make them fear that they haven’t got what the system asks for, and it kills their confidence. Few realise that they don’t need testing and qualifications to succeed. I have virtually no qualifications, but I have some imagination and great enthusiasm and a willingness to use cool technology to sell sushi. We need to make sure that the education system helps to grow ideas rather than stifle them. Invention and science are filled with risk and our children should feel like they are ready to take it on.”
I left school at the age of 16 and spent 30 years in the entertainment business. In the 90s, I pioneered television deals to show huge international rock concerts worldwide, including Nelson Mandela concerts, shows for Amnesty International and the Prince’s Trust concerts. In 1997, I founded YO! Sushi, the sushi restaurant featuring a conveyor belt. Most recently, I was one of the original ‘Dragons’ on the BBC 2’s ‘Dragons’ Den’ making and breaking the dreams of would-be entrepreneurs looking for investment in their business idea.
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