Sunday October 6 2024
Swindon & Wiltshire News
More than 600 local business people came together at the South West Business Expo at STEAM in Swindon yesterday (Thursday) to network, learn, and listen to a host of keynote speakers.
Neil Clough, star of TV’s The Apprentice, proved to be one of the hardest-working men at the show, book-ending the event with a presentation at Swindon Chamber of Commerce’s networking breakfast – the event that kick-started the show – and wrapping things up with a second presentation after lunch.
Down-to-earth Neil told delegates to learn from their failures. He said he was spurred on to enter The Apprentice after giving up on his dream of being a professional footballer after his father died.
And when he dramatically crashed out of the apprentice at the final hurdle, he was determined to make a success of the business idea that saw him lose the crown.
Sir Alan Sugar described him as ‘the right man with the wrong plan’ after presenting a flawed business plan for an online estate agency.
He refused to make changes to the plan – something he now admits could have led to him winning the competition – despite being given the opportunity to do so.
Neil has now changed the business plan and has launched www.tem-po.co.uk, as well as running his sales training consultancy and treading the speaking circuit.
Other guest speakers included Excalibur director and LEP board member James Phipps, 4 Networking founder and motivational speaker Brad Burton, Jackie Chappell – British Rail’s first CEO and founder of The Ironing Lady – and business continuity manager Russell Cook.
The event also included a range of seminars and workshops on topics as diverse as LinkedIn, email marketing, cloud computing, sales training, branding, and dealing with Companies House, and speed-, slow- and ladies-networking.
