Becky Stockbridge McKinnell is young, in a hurry and knows what she wants. She was too busy growing iBec Creative, her startup web and graphic design firm in Portland, to apply to be considered a top entrepreneur under age 25 in BusinessWeek’s annual competition — something else she’s long wanted to do. On the cusp [...]

Emilio Lavazza, the man who presided over a famous coffee making firm has died at the age of 78. Mr Lavazza was president of the Italian coffee company which bore his name. He spent close to 40 years as the head of the company which expanded its reach into almost half of Italy’s retail market. [...]

  Hamish Ogston has built up a multi-million pound business insuring other people’s plastic. Yesterday he put his faith in the hands of other people when he floated Card Protection Plan (CPP), his credit card and identity insurance group, on the stock market. Mr Ogston, who ranked 127 on last year’s Sunday Times Rich List, [...]

  Ghanaian born fashion entrepreneur, Kwab (Kwabena) Asamoah continues to make waves in the United States through his Kustom Looks Clothier company. His classic styles, which have been embraced from corporate executives to star athletes and politicians, bring together the traditional art of custom clothes with a taste of modern tailoring. Kustom Look Clothier’s celebrity [...]

James Caan is to launch a business academy in London aimed at start-ups and small business owners. He says: ‘The problem with being the boss is you have no-one guiding you. Asking businessman friends seems like defeat and you don’t want to admit you’re a novice. But everyone needs a helping hand.’ Caan says that [...]

When Mike Cheng moved from midtown to Shanghai three years ago, he could barely speak Mandarin Chinese. By the time the young Asian-American entrepreneur moved back to New York nine months later, he was on his way toward mastering the language – and starting a business. Knowing he had many friends eager to learn, Cheng, [...]

An ambitious young entrepreneur is attempting to personalise private equity investment with a £1m funding round for a 10 per cent stake in himself. James Layfield, who has three successful ventures under his belt, claims he was driven to the extreme measure by the frustration of being knocked back by the conventional fund-raising process. “I [...]

  Green shoots… A SNOWBOARDING entrepreneur is already eyeing up a second shop less than a month after his first opened for business. Ricki Hutchinson, 25, has been viewing premises in Sunderland to add to the new North State Snowboarding shop he’s just started at Whickham Thorns Outdoor Activity Centre in Gateshead. Mr Hutchinson, who [...]