Identify an entrepreneur that you admire. Outline what it is that you admire about them and why (500 words)

A person who sets up a business or businesses, taking a greater than normal financial risk in order to do so. (Oxford Dictionary, 2000)

I have chosen to look the Innocent smoothie founders Richard Reed, Adam Balon and Jon Wright, they went to university at Cambridge together then set up innocent after quitting their jobs to build Innocent Drinks. I think it is an amazing company because it has simple products and outlooks but they operate in a very innovative way. Innocent Drinks was founded in 1999, it has 77.5% of shares in the UK smoothie market² and sells two million bottles per week.³

I think the founders are entrepreneurs because they came up with a new idea and found a gap in the market for a product, they spent £500 on fruit and made lots of smoothies then went to a music festival in London and asked the attendees whether they should quit their current jobs and make smoothies instead, and to answer the smoothie testers had to put their empty bottles in ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ bins, by the end of the festival the ‘Yes’ bin was completely full and the ‘No’ bin had three smoothies in it.

I admire the fact that they set up the business with a core idea and strong values about the company and have kept in throughout the journey of the business, whereas many entrepreneurs tend to loose there initial values and ideas as there business grows. I also admire the fact that the three men who founded it all share the same ideas and they all know exactly what they are trying to achieve so they are working towards the same goal.

Since the beginning innocent had always tried to be a sustainable company,  they review everything about the company and recognise where they could improve it to make positive impacts environmentally and socially.

The entrepreneurs took a very big risk by quitting their jobs for a project that they were not sure that would take off and they faced many times where they were not sure that it was a good idea, but they overcame all of the obstacles and are now what they are because of them.

 The company has a very positive attitude in all areas of it business I think this reflects the successes, they have 250 employees and have been voted one of the best companies to work for in the UK, the company

The success of Innocent was achieved because of many different factors, but I think the founders not just had a good product but they were innovative and had a good plan for setting up the company.

­­Bibliography

1.                           Concise (2000). Oxford dictionary . New York: BCA. p476-p477

2.                           Cheatsheet (2006). Available: http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/press/cheatsheet/. Last accessed 9 Dec 2010.

3.                           ‘Coke buys into Innocent smoothies’. Available: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7986901.stm. Last accessed 10 Dec 2010.