Elephant Bag - great innovation

Last night I went to an entrepreneur event here in Bath (UK) where I live.

By chance, I got chatting with James, a young guy who has started a social enterprise called Elephant Branded.

Essentially, James takes old plastic cement bags from the Far East, and turns them into 'must have' bags and accessories for people in the West.

The whole ideas is brilliantly simple and has oodles of scope for more products.

Elephant Branded is a social enterprise, and in addition to making a profit, they also give back... so for each bag that is sold (direct or through one of its various distributors), a much needed set of pens, paper pad or a school bag is given to a school in rural parts of Asia and Africa.

Visit www.ElephantBranded.com  and check out their bags. I want one!

The importance of Passion by Karan Bilimoria - Millionaire MBA Entrepreneur

Lord (Karan) Bilimoria is one of the UK's most successful Asian entrepreneur. He was the founder of Cobra Beer, the extra smooth, less gassy beer.

Karan started Cobra Beer whilst he was £20,000 in debt and with no experience of the brewing industry.

Karan has been recognised for his achievements as an entrepreneur many times, and more recently has been made Lord Bilimoria.

In Millionaire MBA, you can hear exactly how he and 25+ other entrepreneurs think, act and make decisions -- and how they all share the 'millionaire mindset'.

Julie Meyer - Contributor to Millionaire MBA

Here's a great insight into Julie Meyer, one of the entrepreneurs who features in Millionaire MBA.

Julie is well known for founding First Tuesday, helping LastMinute.com raise finance, and in later years, founding Ariadne Capital.

Julie has strong views about what it takes to succeed as a successful entrepreneur, and you can hear more about these at www.millionairemba.com.

10 minutes with entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne (from Dragons' Den)

Here's a great video which tells a little of Duncan Bannatyne's story.

Duncan is now very famous as one of the original dragons from Dragons' Den, but before he featured on Dragons' Den, he contributed to Millionaire MBA.

I interviewed Duncan at a 5-start hotel in London's Picadilly. At that time Duncan was in the Sunday Times Rich List and worth over £100m. He is now worth at least 3 times that amount.

If you want to learn exactly how Duncan thinks and delve into this millionaire mindset, visit www.millionairemba.com.

Simon Woodroffe 31:47

Here's a hidden gem on YouTube - is the a full 30 minute presentaiton by Simon Woodroffe, the founder of YO! Sushi and Yotel.

Simon is also one of the entrepreneurs featured in Millionaire MBA. He was one of the very first entrepreneurs who agreed to contribute to Millionaire MBA (after Julie Meyer).

I originally interviewed Simon for Millionaire MBA in his offices in Farringdon, shortly after he sold a large share of YO! Sushi. I think it was the same week actually. He tells a little of that story in this presentation.

To watch Simon speak, fast forward to 31min 47 seconds.

Simon Woordroffe Reads Felix Dennis

Here's a great video of Simon Woodroffe - one of the featured entrepreneurs in Millionaire MBA, and an all round good guy.

In the video, he recites a poem by Felix Dennis, the publishing tycoon.

The people is pasted below.

How To Get Rich

Good fortune? The fact is
The more that you practise,
The harder you sweat,
The luckier you get.

Ideas? We’ve had ’em
Since Eve deceived Adam,
But take it from me
Execution’s the key.

The money? Just pester
A likely investor.
To get what you need
You toady to greed.

The talent? Go sign it!
But first, wine and dine it.
It’s tedious work
With a talented jerk.

Good timing? To win it
You gotta be in it.
Just never be late
To quit or cut bait.

Expansion? It’s vanity!
Profit is sanity.
Overhead begs
To walk on two legs.

The first step? Just do it
And bluff your way through it.
Remember to duck!
God speed…

and good luck!

Nick Wheeler - Enterpreneur of the Year Winner - and Millionaire MBA Featured Entrepreneur

Here's a great video of Nick Wheeler the founder of CT Shirts.

Nick is featured in Millionaire MBA where he expands on the advice he gives in this short video... which is you have to 'believe'!