The appetite is there……

It has been a very interesting few weeks – the last London Fashion Network was on investment and funding and it was great to see a mixture of people in the audience from members who are looking to start up to people who have an existing business which has grown and they are now feel confident enough to expand further. It wasn’t just looking at the home UK market but people considering their expansion overseas and increasing their online presence.

We had a great panel David Ramsey a “chatty “VC financier from Neo Capital and David Roberts from Olswang’s who has advised on some of the big retail deals recently and Lucy Tarleton from the London Stock Exchange.

David Ramsey was in a very buoyant and upbeat mood, very optimistic and sent some time explaining how you can approach fund raising so you get what you need and keep the business going and where to actually look for money and how to get the money – your business plan and pitch. David Roberts was also very optimistic about how the retail side of the business is still buoyant and how people are still seeking out investment and looking to raise finance – Lucy from the Stock Exchange would love more retailers to venture back to the trading floor (she seemed to be fed up of mining companies) as they inject some glitter and glamour in to the proceedings.

When all you read are retailers going down or cutting back or hard times on the High Street it refreshing to see so many people who are still willing and have the appetite to build a retail business or brand and venture on away from their safety zone.

What was all the more prophetic on the same day a geek has sold his web application for around £20 million Tweetdeck to Twitter and their office is not far from the venue and the biggest gains on the High Street are those on the virtual High  Street.

So it looks like we are loved we just need to get out there and make things happen.