How we made our millions: Michelle Mone and Richard Reed under the spotlight

I enjoyed watching this programme last night in which Peter Jones investigated Michelle Mone, founder of Ultimo, and Richard Reed, co-founder of Innocent in order to find out ‘How we made our millions’. The programme looked at their very different characters as Peter discussed with them their childhoods, studied their business models, asked staff what they are like to work for, and considered what it was that drove them to be entrepreneurs.

There was plenty here for both AS and A2 business students, from the characteristics of entrepreneurs to organisation structure, leadership and culture. The management style of the two could not be more different, and Jones appeared equally taken aback by the laid back style of Innocent’s offices as by the extraordinary tidiness of the Ultimo building - to say nothing of the architecture, which I will leave you to find out about!

The programme is available on i-player but only until November 20th; however it is being repeated on BBC2 on Sunday at 17.00 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and Thursday 17th at 12.30 in Scotland. Well worth encouraging your students to watch it as part of their prep this weekend!