Share Sounds related to Entrepreneurs & Business Leaders

Vaughan Rowsell, Founder of Vend, a New Zealand tech business, and Alex Fala CEO of the company, joined Share Radio to talk about the New Zealand tech economy. They also shared their thoughts on the recent earthquake that has struck New Zealand's South Island.

Pre-tax profits of companies that reported annual results between July and September are down by almost 77% to £3.2 billion. The dominant mining sector in particular dragged down FTSE 100 stock profits. BHP Billiton reported a near £5 billion loss, but the smaller mid-cap companies shone. All this is revealed in Profit Watch, the latest quarterly report of earnings from The Share Centre. Nigel Cassidy spoke to Helal Miah, Investment Research Analyst at the Share Centre, to get an insight into the latest profit performance of UK plc: starting with the pressures on the earnings of large multinationals and focusing on BHP Billiton.

Consumers have spoke out against Toblerone and parent company Mondelez after they announced they would be changing its distinctive triangular chocolate chunks to combat rising costs. Share Radio's Matt Cox spoke to John Bradley, a former Marketing chief at Cadbury and author of the book "Cadbury's Purple Reign: The Story Behind Chocolate's Best-Loved Brand", to discuss why a company might be tempted to meddle with its brand.

Allyson Stewart-Allen, CEO at International Marketing Partners and author of Working with Americans, joined Share Radio to share her view of a damaged "Brand USA", following Trump's election. She said that the only individual who can fix the image of the country is the occupant of the White House, and she had few tips for him.

As Amazon said last week, mountains of fake products have been damaging legitimate music sellers. The rising tide of fake goods can only hurt the high street, cutting into retail profits as customers look for cheap deals to cut their Christmas shopping bills. Share Radio's Matt Cox has been hearing from Phil Lewis, who is a strategy advisor to the US-based Anti-Counterfeiting Group.

The face of manufacturing is on the move and it is a revolution that is happening at a rapid pace. Birmingham is the place to be this week if you are in manufacturing - the Smart Factory Expo brings together all those involved in manufacturing to discuss how they can future proof their operations to ensure they don't stay stuck in the past.

Rodolphe Saadé, an executive of French shipping giant CMA CGM, said earlier this week that none of the top twenty biggest container-shipping companies are likely to post a profit in 2016. He said that container shipping: "has been strangled by two years of rock-bottom freight rates that have caused some operators to go bankrupt and others to seek partnerships to stay afloat." To find out what is expected for next year, Share Radio's Matt Cox sought out Robert Merrylees, Policy Analyst at the UK Chamber of Shipping.

Thought about starting your own business? Don't know where to start? Well we think we can give you a helping hand. To help talk you through how to create your own plan - we have the 'start-up coach himself', Carl Reader. And talking through how she started her own dog walking business, the Ministry of Dogs, Alison Williams talks about her experiences and the joy of owning your own business.

According to a key annual report annual report from energy practise Oliver Wyman, the biggest commodity trading houses have seen profits from reselling oil shipments jump more than 50% over the past five years. Roland Rechsteiner, co-author of "Reimagining Commodity Trading" at Oliver Wyman, talks on their annual oil report.

Linda meets some of the winners at the first British Small Business Awards, organised by smallbusiness.co.uk, in association with the Federation of Small Businesses.