Growing the Warburtons Brand - Focusing on Core Values

Jonathan Warburton faced a major challenge when he came into his family business - a business that had, by that point, already been established for over 100 years. The task was to bring fresh entrepreneurial spirit to an already established and well performing business. It is clear from the success of Warburtons as one of Britain's largest companies in the fast-moving consumer goods industries that he has succeeded in this aim. And his talk to the Entrepreneurship Society last week was a beautifully clear explanation of the core values that Mr Warburton lie behind being an effective entrepreneur.

To quote briefly from his opening remarks - “entrepreneurialism is not just about starting a business it's about assuming responsibility for an idea or a venture and all the risks and benefits associated with it."

Jonathan Warburton outlined a cluster of core principles by which people from every background can you act like an entrepreneur in a working life even if you do not end up running your own enterprise. These principles were

*Live your culture
*Self esteem
*Be brave – have courage
*Set your vision
*Act with integrity
*Focus

And he asked his young audience to seize the day in whatever ambitions they had. Dont'wait to start - If you stand still, you'll go backwards' – if everyone else is moving

Questions from the floor ranged far and wide - from the significance of Warburtons being a private company rather than a publically quoted business, to the hugely important relationships with the major supermarkets - all of whom are ruthless in their commercial relationships with food manufacturers. Key to sustaining the balance of power with supermarkets is to have a very strong brand and reputation for high product quality - make the supermarkets realise that this is a brand that they can do without.

This was a terrific talk and much enjoyed by all those there.