Share Sounds from Share Radio Breakfast related to Entrepreneurs & Business Leaders

Despite innovations in finance, banks are still the primary source of funds for business. But for the crucial high-growth sector, equity finance can be a better choice - the question is, how do you get your hands on it if you're in the regions? A report from the Institute for Public Policy Research has looked at how to make equity more equitable. Share Radio's Peta Fuller reports.

Leah Hutcheon is the Founder of Appointedd, an Edinburgh based online booking specialist. She joined Share Radio Breakfast to talk about her company, which from nothing has built its way to international status, having won investment along the way. They are announcing a new US partner on Monday.

A major new report on the UK logistics sector has urged for land to be set aside for industrial space by the government, warning that a growing shortfall could crush out online retailers. More than 18million sq. ft. of new industrial space is needed annually to satisfy exponential e-commerce growth and demand from parcel delivery firms, says City law firm Addleshaw Goddard. A massive shortfall could see consumers having to pick up the tab for the higher cost of industrial space for retailers and couriers. To discuss this further, Leona Ahmed, Head of Real Estate at law firm Addleshaw Goddard, joined Share Radio Breakfast.

Paul Kelly, Owner of Kelly Turkeys, joined Share Radio to talk on the business of selling and producing turkeys. We started by asking him if there is an overall slight decline in turkey sales.

David Richardson, Regulatory & Commercial Affairs Director at The Wine and Spirit Trade Association, joined Share Radio to discuss the fall in sherry sales and what can be done about it. We started by asking him when consumption started to decline.

Big Sofa, a technology company of just over thirty people, is preparing to float on Aim, the debut investment market, and may begin trading next week. The founders apparently started the business seven years ago travelling the UK, interviewing consumers to get some insight into customer behaviour. They quizzed people on a large inflatable sofa, and videoed the results, believing the insights they got were better than those from more conventional research. But it was all a bit laborious transcribing the content, so today Big Sofa uses clever software that mines all the info. Simon Lidington, CEO of Big Sofa, joined Share Radio to discuss.

Pharmaceutical companies are in the news again being accused of unreasonable price hikes. This time it's Actavis UK, who have been accused by the NHS of overcharging for a "lifesaving" drug by raising the price more than 12 thousand percent. This follows similar situations such as Pfizer being charged a record 107 million dollar fine for allegedly overcharging for an epilepsy treatment, and the Martin Shkreli scandal, when the U.S. Pharmaceutical Executive bought the rights to Daraprim, and raised the price more than 50-fold. Share Radio's Matt Cox has been investigating these price hikes. He spoke to Dr Amit Roy pharmaceutical analyst and founder of independent investment research firm Foveal.

A study of how small and medium sized businesses are feeling about the future suggests revenue and hiring will accelerate in the next 12 months. That’s been revealed in an SME Growth tracker by Capital Economics. Zamir Cajee, an Amazon Marketplace user and online retailer, was involved in the survey and he joined to discuss the findings.

High profile executives, including Microsoft's Bill Gates and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, are investing one billion dollars in a fund for clean energy tech and addressing climate change. They're being joined by others such as Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Alibaba chairman Jack Ma. They hope to increase financing to emerging energy research, and help hit emissions goals set in the Paris Summit. Dr. Charles Donovan is Director of Imperial College London's Centre for Climate Finance, and he joined Share Radio Breakfast to discuss.

Bermuda is considered the world’s worst corporate tax haven, according to a report released by Oxfam. The report also names and shames three other territories, which, like Bermuda, are under UK sovereignty: Cayman Islands, Jersey and the British Virgin Islands. Timon Molloy, Managing Editor of Money Laundering Bulletin, joined Share Radio to discuss this. We started by asking him if we have learnt anything new from this report.