TV celebrities Jamie Laing, founder of Candy Kittens and Jampot Productions, and Deborah Meaden, business leader and author, discuss the failures and successes of setting up a business and investment in a fireside chat at the 2025 Guernsey Private Wealth Forum in London.
“Failure happens all the time. We have to fail in order to
succeed,” Jamie Laing (pictured left), founder of confectionary
business Candy Kittens and former TV celebrity, said at
the Guernsey
Private Wealth Forum 2025 in London this autumn.
His views were echoed at the London event by Deborah Meaden
(pictured right), investor on the business
programme Dragon’s Den for almost 20 years. She is also
author of the bestselling books Why Money Matters,
a guide for six to nine-year-olds and Talks
Money a money guide for 11 to 16-year-olds. “If I don’t
fail, I am not trying,” she said. “My first business failed,” she
continued. “I followed my ex-boyfriend to Italy when I was 19 but
ran out of money.” She set up a glass and ceramics export agency,
which sold products to UK retailers like Harvey Nichols, but the
company failed after 18 months. “I didn’t have much money at that
time so it was hard for me to challenge it,” she added.
“My next business came out of the clothing store Stefanel. I saw
it and wanted to be a franchisee and was one of the first,” she
continued. She sold out two years later to her partner for
£10,000 ($13,200).
Meaden went on to build up Weststar Holidays a family
holiday park operator based in Devon, which sold for £83 million.
“I was sad about selling it but it was the right time to do it.
We were within a week of a crash which could have halved
our value,” she said.
Laing highlighted how the TV world made him become a master of
improvising which helps in his business. Being on TV also helped
him to become self-aware. “As a founder, you have to be
self-aware and know what you are bad at,” he said.
His views were echoed by co-host Meaden at the event. “Founders
of businesses try to do everything. You have to know what you are
good and bad at and what the business needs to succeed,” she
said. “Starting a business is like having a small child. In the
startup phase, it’s full of fun and creative people. I am about
to go into the 21st series of Dragons Den. I love business. It’s
a very energising thing,” she said.
Meaden also focuses her time on fair and ethical business
practices, as well as being a representative for many wildlife
charities, including the WWF and the Marine Conservation Society.
“My aim is to make sure my money is well spent and helps
support the changes for the better in the world that I want to
see,” she said.
Wealth management experts also explored at the event how the
industry is evolving to meet the needs of a new generation of
entrepreneur. Emerging sectors such as technology, sport, social
media and entertainment are driving demand for more tailored and
innovative solutions. “The thing that needs to be solved is
actually an issue of communication more so than products and
approach. We have a huge amount of expertise and value to
provide – but it requires thinking about how we package it,
how we communicate it. The world is changing, but the core
principles of growing, preserving, and passing on wealth
haven’t,” Alexander Joshi, head of behavioural finance at
Barclays
Private Bank, said.
The younger generation – and women in particular – stand to
benefit from this approach. Alice Russell, portfolio manager at
Cazenove
Capital, said women are projected to hold 60 per cent of
wealth in the UK by the end of this year, emphasising that
fostering a sense of curiosity and confidence will be essential
in empowering these demographics to shape their own investment
journeys.
Helen McGhee, partner at Joseph
Hage Aaronson & Bremen, also underlined Guernsey’s
appeal as a jurisdiction. She noted that this reputation is
underpinned by the island’s stability, expertise and pragmatic
regulation. “What we try to do as a regulator is calibrate
the regulatory framework to the investors’ needs and
requirements.
“We’re opening up, making it easier, reducing some of the
regulatory themes associated and modifying some of the regulatory
requirements, because we’re very conscious of the target
market,” Gillian Browning, deputy director general for the
Guernsey Financial Services Commission, added.
“We believe these kinds of advancements to be a vital aspect of
preserving wealth for the future, empowering the next generation
to take a vested interest,” chief executive of Guernsey Finance,
Rupert Pleasant, said. “Guernsey’s trust and fiduciary
expertise and talent for innovation offer the ideal environment
through which to manage wealth and investments.”
The forum was organised by Guernsey Finance, a
joint government and industry initiative whose remit is promoting
and connecting Guernsey as an international financial centre. See
more about Guernsey Finance
here.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.wealthbriefing.com ’
