Touker Suleyman

“I've been asked for a few selfies.”

“The Covid-19 pandemic has been great for the bosses, by which I mean the CEOs, the senior lawyers, the bankers and the top civil servants. They have been able to work from home - or from their holiday retreats - increasing their quality of life and saving a fortune on commuting and all its associated costs.”

“There is no room for fashionable corporate blather about showing you care for your staff by letting them sit at home.”

“My parents came from northern Cyprus in 1959 to the U.K. and they started a restaurant. I saw how hard they worked.”

“I have to like people. I have to have trust in them; I have to see they've got the passion for what they're doing. Then I will invest and give them 'Touker Time.'”

“The Government does not have direct control over rising energy and fuel costs or on global inflation or transport costs. But it does have direct control over tax and the timing of tax rises.”

“I made my first million very young, in the fashion business. By my mid-20s I was the chairman of two public companies, way out of my depth, when I lost everything.”

“I think I always had it in my blood to be an entrepreneur at a very young age.”

“I am a people's person and especially with my position on 'Dragons' Den' I think it is best to stay apolitical.”

“My dream investment would be one where I put the least amount of money in but make the most amount of profit.”

“I've been recognised a few times but I'm not a celebrity, I'm a businessman.”

“With smaller brands often the problem is sourcing; you can't source the product at the right price, or they haven't got the minimum quantities. Then at the other end of the high street, you've got the bigger brands that are so obsessed with margins and profit that they take their eye off the product.”

“I don't want my staff staring at a screen, while surreptitiously checking out the view of their back garden, pretending they are fully engaged with the matter in hand. Entrepreneurial businesses, which are the backbone of the British economy, do not work like that. You sort things out there and then, face-to-face.”

“I want to support people with the guts to pursue their dreams and provide the financial backing, opportunities and support that will ease their path to success.”

“I'm very wide open for the right investment.”

“I love my work.”

“We have created a new culture of partial workers, with horrendous consequences for our national productivity. It's a phenomenon I see at first-hand when I conduct job interviews. All too often, applicants make clear they expect to be able to work three or four days a week from home.”

“Dreams and big ideas are plentiful, but few people have the courage to realise their ambitions.”

“At school I was a bit of a loner, but I always had a dream that I would do more than just normal.”

“When I was 19 or 20 I was an accountant earning 5 a week for a company called Ridley & Co.”