Jackie Danicki

I’ve seen him on Dragons’ Den and was totally repulsed by his arrogance in judging and insulting aspiring entrepreneurs (which, truth be told, probably did them a bit of good). But he does speak a lot of sense in this Guardian Q&A. An excerpt:

Do you feel guilty about how much you have? Is that why you do charity stuff?
It’s absolutely not a guilt trip and it’s absolutely not “giving back”, because I’ve never taken anything. I can help, so I help, and that’s it.

Must you be ruthless in business?
Look, I started a company by buying land that was advertised for sale. I got a contractor to build a facility at a price that he gave me. I filled it with people that wanted to use it. What is ruthless about that?

Is it true that you don’t have a pension?
Yes, I don’t invest in stocks and shares in the normal way. I don’t believe in them. A pension is created and funded by people who live in big tower blocks in the City and transfer money from one tower block to another tower block to make themselves a bit of commission.

Filed under: Life