Lord Sugar: Fired?

The FSB says it’s unanimous in its agreement that Lord Sugar’s position is no longer tenable.

Responding to a series of comments made by Lord Sugar about small businesses at meetings around the country, FSB national chairman John Wright says: “The FSB is extremely disappointed by the comments made recently by Lord Sugar about small firms. Despite being appointed by the government to champion business in the UK, Lord Sugar seems to have no grasp of the hard work small businesses do and the role they play in employing six in ten of the country’s private-sector workforce and contributing to more than half of UK GDP. Lord Sugar appears to have let his TV personality from The Apprentice take over and the language he has used to describe this country’s small business owners is hardly appropriate given his current role.

“Members of the FSB have been in touch to complain about Lord Sugar’s recent performances around the country and we have to call that he resign from his position. We urge the prime minister to appoint someone with a greater understanding of, and more empathy for, the small business sector.”

Real Business’s very own online columnist Guy Levine was at the "Lord Sugar Wants To Meet You" event in Manchester this week, where the enterprise tsar was allegedly “highly dismissive" of complaints over bank lending to small businesses.

Levine doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about.

“On bank lending, Lord Sugar was saying that many people have not seen times when they had to work hard to qualify for a loan. People are so used to getting the funds that they want, that they start to believe it’s an entitlement. People will have to get used to providing the majority of the money while using the bank to top up, not stump up all the cash,” explains the founder of Web Marketing Advisor. “On entrepreneurship, Lord Sugar believes you must beg, borrow and save to get initial capital. You then earn some and reinvest and grow organically. What’s wrong with that view? He also stated that he used the banks to borrow millions for funding – plugging the gaps between manufacture and sales, not for things which may or may not work. Lord Sugar’s views might be a tad old fashioned, but to me it was back to basics!"

What do you think? Lord Sugar – out-of-touch crony or entrepreneurial sage? Post a comment below.

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