Local entrepreneur’s guide to success

An entrepreneur from Henley who has established 15 businesses in 18 years has revealed the secret of his success.

Robin Bennett has written a book called Start Up Smart about how to begin your own business with less than £5,000.

The 42-year-old, who is based in Hart Street, founded his first business after graduating from London University with a degree in modern languages during the recession in the early Nineties.

After a string of dead-end jobs, he founded London Tutors, a language training company, and then the Bennett Group with a £3,000 loan from Barclays Bank in Hart Street, where his grandfather had been manager.

Since then, he has launched another 13 new businesses within the group and seven are still trading. None of his businesses has been made bankrupt, left debts or borrowed money that it couldn?t pay back.