Enterprise Week

During enterprise week I had the chance to attend numerous events which were both engaging and useful to me. From all the events visited, one stood out which was Ella’s Kitchen. This was a truly inspirational story of a successful man and father who quit his job to pursue his own venture of baby - toddler food products inspired by his daughter to follow his ambitions. The presentation which was given by the owner of the company called Paul Lindley, in this presentation he was talking about how he started up his business and how it continued to grow into the market that they specialised in.

The presentation was very useful as it contained a lot of information which I was able to take away with me as it suggested a number of research strategies that they were using which was to appeal to both the kids and the parents as they were in the baby food sector. Interesting facts were also given such as starting off as a one man business which now has 25 employees and holds a 10% of the market share of which they are situated in. This is an unbelievably figure as there are well established companies in that sector such as cow and gate and managing to grow rapidly and get 10% of the market share in roughly five years showed huge achievement and made me believe that anything is possible if the foundations behind the idea are solid. Tips were also given on ways of becoming successful as he suggested that sometimes risks need to be taken to be successful but that doesn’t mean taking risks all the time, as he stated that risks need to be measured.

From this event it was possible to take away with me the following information which can help me in the future this includes, that anything is possible, hard work pays off, risks need to be measured and that luck plays a huge part in your fortunes. Paul also stated the need for diversity within a business as this helps generate new ideas and future products to make the business continually successful. This information will help me in the future as should I want to start up my business I would look back to this day and think that anything is possible if the effort is of the right manner and conducted in the right way.

Overall the enterprise week was hugely beneficial to me although other events as well as  Ella’s Kitchen did help me in how the business environment works and the passage you need to take to succeed. But it was through this particular event that made me think about my future and about how and why businesses become successful as it’s not all about the resources behind the business, it’s the inspiration and willingness that are key to being a success.


References:


Lindley, Paul (2010) Ella's Kitchen Homepage [online]. Available from:  http://www.ellaskitchen.co.uk/ [Accessed on 28th December 2010]