I learnt from an early age this need to delegate responsibility out to other team members as there is just too much for one person to do themselves. What is the point of hiring talented team members if you don't give them the freedom to make the most of the chance you have given them?

I may be a businessman in that I set up and run companies for profit, but when I try to plan ahead and dream up new products and new companies, I'm an idealist.

I believe a great company, whether improving a sector or creating a new one, needs to have an excellent product or service at its core; needs strong management to execute the plan and a good brand to give it the edge over its competitors. Providing quality service, combined with value for money and in an innovative way ensures you offer real value - and finally to be responsible to society and the planet.

People do not mind people who try things and fail. If you're a good entrepreneur, you're not going to succeed in every single thing you try. You've got to try to succeed at more things than fail.

To be a real entrepreneur you always have to be looking forward. The moment you rest on your laurels is the moment your competition overtakes you.

We need a new way of doing business to get out of the present crisis ... Absolute greed has come close to bankrupting the world. Thanks to the crisis that certain businesses have dumped on everyone a lot of people are going to suffer on a global scale. All of us must learn. It is all the more important that those business leaders that are left standing try to be a force for good.

The best way forward is to give more people everywhere greater power to build their own destinies.