The BBC series Ambassadors was a fictional take on the hapless British embassy delegation in the fictional country of Tazbekistan. However, figures cited this week suggest that the programme's drama and humour may be closer to the truth then we'd care to admit. On Tuesday, the independent reported that only three out of the 16 UK ambassadors in the Arab world have a high-level fluency of Arabic.
Entrepreneurs and business leaders should realise that the popularised notion that "There's no such thing as a free lunch" is fundamentally flawed. As a young and inexperienced, yet very hungry, start-up entrepreneur, I took every opportunity to dine with wise old business owls.
Britain's authority as a force in international business risks being blighted by narrow-mindedness and linguistic ignorance. This week, the BBC reported at a YouGov poll found that only twenty-five per cent of UK residents claim that they can hold a conversation in any of the top ten languages listed by the British Council, and more than half of upper-secondary school students don't study a foreign language.
By lunch time on November 11th, China's most popular shopping holiday, online buyers in the country had already smashed the previous record for the number of e-commerce sales in a single day. Singles' Day, celebrated on the 11/11 because of the association between bachelors and the number one (ie. four singles), is designed for the younger Chinese generation to celebrate their bachelor lives.
Last year they showed the world what a small but resolute team of great Olympians could do when they harnessed their spirit of self-determination to scoop eight gold medals at London 2012.
I would like to say a big "Thank you" to Powerland, China's premier handbag manufacturer, for sponsoring the Women in the City and Livery float during Saturday's Lord Mayor's parade. All 50 of us involved in the float were sporting the handbags, specially flown over from China for the event.
When Time Lord Dr Who chose him as his companion on two occasions, he must have known that the famous storyteller Bernard Cribbins, the man behind all the voices of the Wombles (the multinational entrepreneurial immigrants who turned their local recycling business into a global brand) was more than just a very funny guy.
Successful entrepreneurs don't yield when confronted with a challenge, even one that seriously threatens their company's very existence. Almost every business leader will at some point confront such a challenge; capital costs, regulations, scale economics, to name but a few examples.
Young entrepreneurs and business students are constantly drilled about how they must "Find that gap in the market". From there, they'd like have us believe, the business practically builds itself. I urge all budding business professionals to try a more backwards approach.
I'll start off with one of the simplest yet most important (and often neglected!) points to succeeding as an entrepreneur in the UK's business wilderness. As a migrant entrepreneur, you have a fantastic leverage in utilising both your home-nation's heritage and the opportunities offered by your new host country.
