Written for The Independent on Sunday, Feb 18, 2007 by Maggie Lee. Gerald Ratner is upbeat. Three years since his return to the jewellery business, his wholesale and internet retail company, trading as Gerald Online, has broken even. “We’ve been lucky,” he says, “2003 turned out to...
Written for the Independent on Sunday, Jan 14, 2007 by Maggie Lee. Leaving aside the debut of WowWee’s robotic Elvis, it was a sober and collaborative affair at CES (the world’s largest consumer electronics show) in Las Vegas last week. In 2006, celebrities graced just about every...
Written for The Independent on Sunday, Oct 29, 2006 by Maggie Lee. Making money isn’t enough for Britain’s top private-equity investor. What really excites him is the challenge of taking on failing companies. Jon Moulton, founder and managing partner of the private-equity firm Alchemy, has never shied...
Written for The Independent on Sunday, Aug 27, 2006 by Maggie Lee. The Irish tycoon might have sold his packaging empire but he still has plenty on his plate, like the Ryder Cup. Sir Michael Smurfit is on a roll. The Irish paper and packaging tycoon is...
Written for The Independent on Sunday, Apr 23, 2006 by Maggie Lee. Seven months on from his surprise news that he was leaving ITV, Mick Desmond, the former chief executive of ITV Broadcasting, is back helping a Chinese television group eyeing the British market. Mr Desmond has...
Written for the Independent on Sunday, Apr 9, 2006 by Maggie Lee. L’Occitane is not a brand name that slides easily into the vernacular of Britons and Americans. Marketing experts might argue that this “foreign-ness” and lack of instant appeal presents a huge challenge for a...
Written for The Independent on Sunday, Feb 26, 2006 by Maggie Lee. On a recent visit to the island of Trinidad, her home as a child, Maggie Lee met Leo Beenhakker, the Dutch coach of World Cup novices Trinidad and Tobago. An adopted hero, the Dutchman...
Written for www.opendemocracy.net, September 22nd, 2005 by Maggie Lee. Many Caribbean communities have faced the challenge of recovering from natural disaster. Maggie Lee visits Grenada, devastated by Hurricane Ivan in 2004, and is surprised by the creative recovery plans of the “island of perpetual potential”. The small...
Written for The Independent on Sunday, Jul 24, 2005 by Maggie Lee. Sex sells, they say, but sometimes even the lure of money is not enough to conquer the reserve of investment houses. Five years ago, Charlotte Semler and Nina Hampson, a former advertising executive and retail...
Written for the Independent on Sunday, Jul 17, 2005 by Maggie Lee. Harry Goodman is just about to launch his third travel empire. The legendary leisure tycoon says he wants to set up ‘a specialist upmarket travel operation aimed at the grey market with worldwide cruising...