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Can you imagine buying a failing business for £1 and turning it into a £70 million retail brand? Well, that's exactly what Touker Suleyman did, not once but several times, and on this episode he shares the deals, the disasters and the hard-won lessons behind building a genuine retail empire!

Touker Suleyman is a British retail entrepreneur and investor on BBC's Dragon's Den, and the chairman of retail brands including Hawes & Curtis, Ghost and Finery. Starting out as a trainee accountant before moving into fashion manufacturing, he went on to employ thousands of people across factories in Turkey, Bulgaria and Georgia, and has spent over 50 years building, buying and turning around businesses.

He explains:

1. Why he lost everything to fraud in his twenties, and the due diligence lesson that saved his career
2. Why basket value is the single biggest thing that makes or breaks a retail business
3. Why you should never give a bank a personal guarantee

Chapters

• 00:00:00 Intro
• 00:01:25 Touker's Immigrant Background And Early Life
• 00:02:52 Starting In Fashion By Accident
• 00:03:19 First Job As An Article Clerk
• 00:04:22 Getting Involved In Public Companies
• 00:05:04 The Fraud That Cost Him Everything
• 00:06:22 The Power Of Due Diligence
• 00:07:14 Bouncing Back From Losing Everything
• 00:09:32 Moving Into Turkish Manufacturing
• 00:10:36 Employing Thousands Across Three Countries
• 00:11:07 The Ralph Lauren Opportunity
• 00:11:50 Buying Hawes & Curtis For £1
• 00:12:50 Scaling From One Store To A Retail Empire
• 00:14:23 Building Ghost, Finery And Other Brands
• 00:15:09 The Turkish Billionaire Who Changed His Career
• 00:19:47 Bringing Jobs And Dignity To Bulgaria And Georgia
• 00:22:57 The Ghost Perfume Standoff With Procter & Gamble
• 00:29:43 What To Look At Before Buying A Business
• 00:30:15 The Claire's Deal And Why It Failed
• 00:31:12 How To Increase Your Basket Value
• 00:32:20 The Retail Brands Touker Admires
• 00:34:40 Solving Low Basket Value In Real Businesses
• 00:36:30 The Traits Touker Looks For In Dragons' Den
• 00:38:18 How He Became A Dragon
• 00:40:36 The Best Part Of Being On Dragons' Den
• 00:42:16 The Framework For Turning A Business Around
• 00:44:46 Why Trust Beats Being A Hard Boss
• 00:45:11 Business Lessons You Can Only Learn From Experience
• 00:45:46 Always Challenge Your Invoices And Never Trust One Quote
• 00:47:00 Why You Should Never Give A Bank A Personal Guarantee
• 00:48:02 Using Supplier Terms Instead Of A Bank Loan
• 00:49:37 Ads

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