The project so far - April 2010
Interviews
In February and March, the project team continued to conduct interviews with key figures within the television industry and the world of enterprise and would like to thank the following for offering their time to contribute to our research:
Sarah Beeny is the presenter of Channel 4’s long-running series Property Ladder (renamed Property Snakes and Ladders in 2009). Sarah has her own successful property development and investment companies, has written a number of best-selling books to accompany her television projects and has most recently set up the internet dating site mysinglefriend and property site Tepilo.
(http://www.sarahbeeny.com)
Chris Gorman is a Scottish-based entrepreneur who developed the mobile phone company DX Communications before founding the e-commerce firm Reality Group. Following the success of these businesses and other ventures, Chris has received a number of awards for his entrepreneurialism over the years, is Chairman of the Entrepreneurial Exchange and has appeared as a mentor in Channel 4’s business series Make Me a Million which was broadcast in 2005.
(http://www.chrisgorman.com)
Peter Grigg is Head of Policy and Research at Enterprise UK, an organisation that seeks to increase and encourage entrepreneurship through programmes such as the Make Your Mark campaign aimed at 14 to 30 year olds. Peter’s team works to demonstrate the social and economic impact of campaign activities and to develop fresh ideas and insights for enterprise activity and policy.
(http://www.enterpriseuk.org)
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
In March, Professor Boyle was invited to brief the Research Unit at BIS on the project and the broader relationship between television and its representation of entrepreneurship.