Backstage video interview with Sarah Willingham
Uploaded by Entrepreneurs' Forum
Arriving in Gateshead for the Entrepreneurs' Forum's Eighth Annual Conference ready to tell her story about building Britain’s biggest Indian restaurant chain with her eight-week old son strapped to her front, Sarah Willingham is the quintessential working mum.
Refreshingly open about combining life as a successful entrepreneur with a demanding domestic life, Sarah revealed how her focus on having a family was the catalyst for her leaving the corporate world and seeking out her own business opportunity.
Responsible for international business development first for Planet Hollywood and Pizza Express and then headhunted by a major company, she decided having to be in Hong Kong or Tokyo on a Monday morning would encroach too much on family life.
Her search for a restaurant business to buy led her to the Bombay Bicycle Club, a six-strong chain of Indian takeaways in London.
“I can’t over-estimate the mess it was in. It was haemorrhaging cash, there was no vision and the staff were disgruntled and disillusioned,” she explained.
Within three years she had grown the chain to 17 and increased its value five-fold through PR, including offering free food for a year for any woman who went into labour within 24 hours of eating in one of the restaurants.
Gordon Ramsay calling her takeaway meals his “best Saturday night in” was a PR triumph.
Sarah used her own experience to test and encourage mostly hapless candidates on three series of the BBC’s The Restaurant programme as one of Raymond Blanc’s expert consultants. Her latest foray into TV is guiding families on finance on ITV’s This Morning.
Comments
Posted by Paul Jobling on Wednesday 8th June 2011 5:10 pm
What a great video!
I got the impression that Sarah is not only a devoted business woman but also a devoted mother and family orientated person.
She is totally grounded which I found refreshing for someone who is so successful and I'm sure she is an inspiration to many. many people not only women.
Thank you for a great video Sarah.
Posted by Hazel Burton on Wednesday 8th June 2011 5:31 pm
Thank you Paul - we will send a note to Sarah with your comment.