Speaking to 300 business owners in Manchester Sir Alan said that 85 per cent of small business who had been refused loans weren’t worth lending to anyway, and that many firms needed a bankruptcy adviser rather than a bank.
The eight-minute rant was delivered after one business owner told him four banks had refused to lend him £20,000 because of “cash-flow” difficulties.
Sir Alan said: "Banks are there to do business. Anyone who says they are not are wrong.
"Regretfully, when we delve into some examples of the companies that have gone to the banks saying 'lend me some money', I wouldn't lend them a penny.
"They are bust and don't need the bank - they need an insolvency practitioner.
"I would look you right in the eye and tell you out of 100 complaints, on investigation, I would say 15 of them had something to moan about."
He went on to say: "The problem is that some younger people who have lived through the last 10 years or so of business think the irresponsible manner in which the banks dealt is the norm.
"Let me tell you, you have lived in the unrealistic Disneyworld in the way banks dished out money."
Lord Sugar’s comments were not taken very well by the business owners. One delegate said: "There could have been a bit more enthusiasm here. There's been lot of negativity."
So much for being the Enterprise Champion for the Government (who have borrowed billions of pounds!).
No comments:
Post a Comment