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With the credit crunch starting to bite, now would seem like the worst possible moment to start a new venture - but not according to Duncan Bannatyne, the elder statesman of the BBC's Dragons' Den programme, who believes many lucrative opportunities are around if you can capitalise on
them.
"It's a great time to start a business," he declares when I meet him at his Covent Garden flat. "It's bargain-basement time. You can buy things cheap; you can get architects cheap or builders cheaper than usual. Whatever you want to do, you can buy it cheaper now. The only problem is borrowing the money isn't easy."
Raised in Clydebank, the Scot, whose wealth was estimated in this year's Sunday Times Rich List as £310 million ($870 million), was destined to spend his life toiling in either the industrial town's shipyards or the now-closed Singer sewing machine factory.
He recalls: "I wanted to do something different."
As a 15-year-old, he joined the Navy, but was dishonourably discharged four years later after trying to throw his commanding officer overboard. For the next decade, he lived from hand to mouth, working a series of dead-end jobs, from driving a cab to selling ice creams on a beach.
As he writes in his newly released second book Wake up and Change Your Life, at 30 he was a penniless beach bum. He then resolved to become a millionaire, which he achieved by the time he was 37.
"I had no qualifications and no profession so I could have got a job sweeping the streets or maybe working as a barman or I could start a business. A business of your own is the best option, believe me."
He bought an ice cream van in 1979 for £450. Six other vehicles and several concessions in local parks soon followed and by 1985 Duncan's Super Ices turned over £350,000 a year.
In 1984, he built his first nursing home, which he financed by selling his home and other businesses and borrowing £30,000 on credit cards.
Over the next five years he opened nine other establishments, mortgaging all the others to pay for each new one, until selling the business, Quality Care Homes, for +pound+46 million in 1996. Now, he balances making Dragons' Den with running an empire of hotels and fitness centres.
Bannatyne recommends borrowing to finance a new endeavour if the potential profits outweigh the interest charged. Unfortunately, despite governments worldwide pumping billions into their banking systems to stimulate their economies, banks are still reluctant to loosen their purse strings.
"Banks are not lending so it is difficult to borrow money," admits Bannatyne. "If you can start something without borrowing money then that will be easier. You can use credit cards to borrow money if you're really confident in the business. The trouble is that most non-entrepreneurs will say, `nah, it's the wrong time', but entrepreneurs will say, `let's get over the obstacles and see what we can do'."
He believes many companies expand too quickly and overextend themselves before coming unstuck. "You've got to do your research," counters Bannatyne. "Look at your opposition, see what they've done and see what opportunities are out there. You've got to think about it but it can be a good time now."
Such is the case with Woolworths UK, which was placed in administration after running up debts of £385 million. Three days after our meeting, it emerged that Bannatyne's fellow Dragon, Theo Paphitis, who has previously turned around other ailing retail chains, including Rymans, is one of several parties who are interested in taking over the British high street stalwart although Bannatyne is dismissive about its potential.
"We were talking about it the other day and it is a place where nobody ever goes," he says. "I can't think of a reason you'd go into Woolworths; it's a bad business. The recession was when it went into administration but it was going to go in anyway. The recession was just the catalyst. It's a weak retailer and it's suffered the consequences."