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Duncan Bannatyne OBE – striking it big

Duncan Bannatyne OBE is instantly recognisable as a former dragon on Dragons’ Den, but just how he came to that position makes for quite remarkable reading.

Having been court marshalled from the Royal Navy after throwing his commander off the side of an aircraft carrier for a £10 bet, and with nothing left to his name, he set up an ice cream van business aged 31 and sold it to found multiple multi-million-pound businesses.

Duncan can therefore talk with authority on striking it big from humble beginnings.

Dom Walbanke

Dom Walbanke

Dom Walbanke is a feature writer for Growth Business and Small Business, focused on matters concerning start-ups and scale-ups. He has also been published in the Independent, FourFourTwo magazine and various...

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