Brass-necked jeweller Gerald Ratner to headline Salisbury Big Business Event

A trio of keynote speakers has been confirmed for Salisbury’s Big Business Event.

Headlining is Gerald Ratner, the businessman perhaps best known for one of the biggest gaffes in business history.

Ratner took over as CEO of the family jewellery chain in the mid 80s, becoming one of Britain’s best known businessmen. He transformed it from 130 stores with sales of £13m, to a public company with 2,500 stores and sales of over £1.2bn.

By 1990, Ratner’s was the world’s largest jewellery retailer with profits in excess of £120m.

Following a high profile gaffe in which he described one of the products sold in the stores as ‘total crap’, he spent 18 months trying to do damage control, but was eventually forced out of the business.

Today, Ratner runs a successful online jewellery business, GeraldOnline, which is turning over some £25m. Meanwhile, spectacular PR fails like his are still known as ‘Doing a Ratner’.

Another businessman in a jam, but for completely different reasons, is Fraser Doherty.

Doherty became an entrepreneur at the age of 14 and is now one of the UK’s most successful businessmen.

Now 22, he set up SuperJam at 14, using his Gran’s jam recipes. After selling his produce at farmers’ markets and to delicatessens, he developed a method of producing jam 100 percent from fruit.

After setting up production, creating a brand and perfecting his recipes, Fraser became the youngest ever supplier to a major supermarket chain when Waitrose launched the range in March 2007.

SuperJam now supplies over 2,000 supermarkets in the UK and over 500 stores in five countries outside the UK.

Finally, Laura Tenison is one of the most innovative entrepreneurs in the UK. Her enormously successful company, JoJo Maman Bébé is one of the UK’s most prominent retail outlets.

As the founder and Managing Director of JoJo Maman Bébé, Laura has grown the company organically from its start-up in 1993 to become the UK’s foremost niche multi-channel specialist in the pregnancy and baby market.

With start-up capital of just £50,000, Laura has grown the company to a forecast growth turnover of £44 million in the current financial year and employs over 570 people.

The company, now with 60 stores nationwide, continues to expand both organically in the UK and via trade sales to over 60 countries across the world.

Laura will talk at 6pm on Tuesday, April 21. Tickets are free.

Fraser Doherty appears at Tuesday’s Big Business Breakfast. Tickets are £15, including breakfast.

Gerald Ratner will close the event at 6pm on Thursday, April 23 from 6pm. Tickets cost £12, and include a hog roast buffet.

The event runs across three days from April 21 to 23, and includes networking opportunities and workshops, a trade fair, and a Made in Salisbury market.

For details and booking, log on to www.salisburybigbusiness.co.uk