CBI: The luckiest man since Ringo?

Away from the main showcase arena in a small room with seating for about 50 people, a landmark event occurred at the CBI's recent conference.

Traditionally the domain of big business and their political counterparts, the CBI held its first ever event geared at the small business community. The breakaway seminar, 'Entrepreneurship - spirit versus corporate culture?' was chaired by the CBI's Chairman of the SME Council, Simon Bartley, with guest speaker, Charles Dunstone, the entrepreneur behind the creation and continued growth of the Carphone Warehouse.

Unlike some of his counterparts who thought the 1990s was the decade of dot.com boom and many of whom subsequently crashed and burnt, Dunstone comes across as a slightly reluctant entrepreneur who built a new technology business based on old-fashioned values. He justifies his success in equal measures of luck, timing and total focus on giving the customer what they want.

Charles Dunstone, CEO of Carphone Warehouse. He founded The Carphone Warehouse in 1989 with a good idea, a spare room in his flat, £6,000 investment, a willingness to take a risk and an instinctive understanding of what his customers wanted. Now, he is the CEO of the largest independent retailer of mobile communications in Europe operating in 12 countries with more than 1,085 stores, employing over 7,500 people - and still holds true to his original ideals and business philosophy.

Despite his phenomenal success, he describes himself as a 'surprised entrepreneur' who is possibly 'the luckiest man since Ringo'. He has an easy-going, relaxed manner and, despite his obvious business acumen, gives the impression that he'd be equally happy explaining the benefits of the latest Nokia or PDA behind the counter in a shop in Croydon High Street, as he is running a global retailing business.

Charles Dunstone said: "The key ingredients which have allowed us to succeed are:

• being in the right place at the right time;
• growing fantastically quickly in a fast growing market place;
• attracting good people to come and work for us - and treating them with dignity and respect;
• maintaining our commercial integrity - we wanted to provide a single place were customers would know they received simple, impartial advice with no hidden incentives.

"We set about being good partners to our suppliers, not wanting to bite the hand that feeds us. We have a culture whereby the people in Carphone Warehouse think we are the best place to come to - and genuinely can't understand why people chose to go elsewhere.

"We knew when we started out that if we were going to succeed, we would have to show customers we wanted their business more than anyone else and were going to do it better as a result.

"I believe that the entrepreneurial ethos has to be 'the customer in every decision'. When we have failed it has been because we have forgotten the customer and started to do things which suited us first."

Just as the customer is King in the Carphone Warehouse, equally the most important people in the business are those on the 'front-line' in the stores. Dunstone clearly sees his role to support the shop staff - if necessary, against his own senior management and head office.

Charles Dunstone said: "We have an upside down organisational chart - the stores are at the top of it. We don't refer to 'Head Quarters', it's the support office for the stores."

Dunstone still thinks the climate is right for an entrepreneur to go in and make his play - provided he remembers the customer. He said: "In many ways it is easier now to be an entrepreneur, as customers are more promiscuous, they like new niche markets and are willing to give new people a chance if they have provide a good service. We built up a strong brand - as many of the new entrepreneurial companies in the market have - it's a question of giving better choice, value and service than the incumbents.

"Companies get the competition they deserve. If they are lazy or sloppy at what they do, someone else will soon start eating their lunch."

Ironically, it was the lack of things to lose, as well as the potential of things to gain, which encouraged Dunstone on his first entrepreneurial steps. Without the formality of a university education and a structured career path, he felt that he wasn't making a great sacrifice to quit the security of a job for the risk of a business venture.

He said: "I had worked at NEC for four years as a sales manager. At the time, I didn't feel I was sacrificing much to quit my job. If it didn't work then I could always try again. If I had gone to university and got on a career merry-go-round, I might have had something to lose.

"I've heard of many people who were going to do something and set up on their own, and just when they were about to, they got promoted or something else happened to prevent them making that step.

"Looking back, it almost seems inconceivable how little we knew then, and how we have got to where we are today."