Kevin Hollinrake MP on his own experience of business growth, now shaping his work with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Fair Business Banking.
I started an estate agency business, Hunters, in April 1992 in the midst of the (then) biggest recession in the financial and housing markets in living memory. Despite the obvious challenges, we were full of optimism for the future and had three very simple objectives; to become a market leader locally and then nationally, to have a lot of fun, but most importantly, to provide a brilliant service to our customers.
The starting point for any business must be to first understand what your customers want and then try to work out how to become profitable in the process.
We were never shy about wanting to make a profit. To offer a great service you need to invest in people and processes to get a fair return on your investment. If your returns fall below the cost of capital your organisation will eventually fail. And those who need to keep plugging the financial gaps
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