Entrepreneur, star of The Apprentice television show and Enterprise Champion for the Government, Lord Alan Sugar, has blasted the bosses of small firms who say they are unable to secure business finance from banks.
Labelling them “moaners”, he said 85% of small companies which applied for bank loans did not actually deserve to receive any credit.
“I can honestly say a lot of problems you hear from people who are moaning are from companies I wouldn’t lend a penny to.” Lord Sugar said at a session in Manchester, in which he was supposed to be championing the causes of viable small companies with banks. “They are bust. The moaners are bust. They are bust and they don’t need the bank — they need an insolvency practitioner.”
He went on to tell the audience of 300 that younger people have been accustomed to the irresponsible lending by banks in the past few years: “You have lived in the unrealistic Disneyworld in the way banks dished out money.” He said.
His comments did not receive a warm reception at the session and were later criticised by the Federation of Small Businesses, for which a spokesman said: “Most small companies live in the real world, not Disneyworld and they lie at the heart of our economy. They are not moaners and the fact is they are working hard in difficult times and they need help from our banks.”
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