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Forming a union to source coffee that’ll really stimulate

Steven Macatonia, co-founder and roast-master of Union Hand Roasted, sets down two cups of coffee in front of me. One is a natural blend from Ethiopia, the other a washed bean from Costa Rica. “The coffees you have in front of you represent the top 1% of the global harvest,” says Jeremy Torz, Union’s other founder. “It’s the difference between a good bottle of wine and a box of party plonk.”

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The Big Fat Entrepreneurs' Quiz

Have you got what it takes to be an extraordinary entrepreneur - or are you doomed to failure before you even really get going?

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Young entrepreneurs are the cornerstone of the country’s economic success

The RSA and Royal Bank of Scotland recently published a report which stated that while 9.5 per cent of 18-24 year olds say they intend to start their own business, only 3.6 per cent of them are doing so. Much work is being done by the government to encourage younger entrepreneurs to start their own business, and inspired by programmes like Dragons Den, the UK start-up landscape is vibrant, despite ongoing economic gloom. However, more young people need to feel inspired and empowered to pursue their own business goals, and education and mentorship play no small part in this process.

Vinyl duo who have put flooring firmly centre stage

Harvey Maria, the Croydon-based vinyl floor maker, is one of a very elite club after successfully selling sand to the Arabs. Founder Mark Findlay, a devotee of Dolly Parton whose dream assignment would be to give her Dollywood theme park in Tennessee a bit of a floor-over, remembers that contract well, because it so nearly didn’t happen.

Spencer Ogden is a recruiter rigged up to enjoy the fruits of recession

Spencer-Percival is what you might call a bit of an eccentric. The 42-year old owns a forest, has funded the RAF’s first table tennis academy and has full-size punch bags throughout the offices of his fledgling business — as well as roulette wheels where staff can win random bonuses.

How Judy found room in the market for her great idea

Necessity has been described as the mother of invention but it can also be the maker of fortunes. Judy Niner, founder and chief executive of the MondaytoFriday.com rent-a-room website, hit upon her business idea back in the late Nineties when her job as marketing director of the Science Museum in Kensington meant she needed a home from home in the week in London while renting out her place on the same basis in Oxford.

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Britain's teenage internet millionaire

A teenage sensation has been born. No, it's not another overpaid footballer. And if you're thinking One Direction, you are mis-directed. Neither is this article announcing the resurrection of Justin Bieber (thank goodness). No, I am talking about Nick D'Aloisio - Britain’s very own teenage internet millionaire.

Beside the Thames: A hive of entrepreneurial activity

Asked to imagine the heart of David Cameron’s much-touted digital economy, most would be likely to think of Old Street’s Silicon Roundabout, home to a hub of trendy technology and media companies. But away from the hype of east London, more traditional small businesses are embracing the digital economy in some unusual ways, and in an unusual location — Richmond upon Thames.

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The Budget: A business blockbuster or flop?

Is George's Budget Oscar winning or a straight to DVD production?

How to give your team the chance to be creative

Ask James Caan: This week many marketing, communication and creative leaders will descend upon London to discuss such debates at events hosted by Advertising Week Europe.

Arty Globe's designs become all the rage, much to Dragons’ fury

The barest mention of Dragons’ Den sets Isaac Lilos racing up the stairs from the basement office of his shop, Arty Globe, in the corner of Greenwich Market. If customers want to know about the 39-year-old’s experience on the popular television show, he’ll regale them, at length, on just why his pitch flopped.

Goldmanite who has boxed clever with our appetites

Dressed in his chef’s whites in the middle of a night shift as he moonlighted in the kitchen of Mayfair restaurant Cuckoo Club, Patrick Drake bumped into a few of his Goldman Sachs colleagues.

Have clubs, will travel is good business — not a load of balls

The offices of Your Golf Travel are found among eclectic Farringdon’s many bars — and that’s just the way founders Ross Marshall and Andrew Harding like it. “We have a work hard/play hard ethic,” says Marshall. “Our staff asked to be near bars and pubs.”

Entrepreneurship as a force for social good

One doesn't hear so much talk of the "big society" these days, but that is not to say it isn't out there. The rise of social entrepreneurship has largely gone unnoticed by the mainstream business community – or policymakers for that matter – but thanks to the support of some organisations that might surprise you, this is a movement which is definitely in the ascendancy.

Mind Candy chief’s advice on failure

Entrepreneurs should not be scared of failure, and if they do fail, they should fail fast.

Digital record boss who sees no defect in music revolution

While others in the music industry have seen their business shrunk by file-sharing and revenues squeezed by iTunes pricing, Defected Record’s founder Simon Dunmore won’t stop banging on about the benefits of digital. “What we can do on a computer is amazing”, Dunmore reveals in Defected’s Shoreditch offices. “The record industry bleats about file-sharing having an adverse effect on earnings, and that’s true, but the costs of what we do are astronomically down.”

How travel guides with local knowledge put MyDestination duo on the map

Marbella is more often associated with The Only Way is Essex — “no carbs before Marbs” — than entrepreneurship. But for James Street and Neil Waller, the southern Spanish city was the birthplace of their business. “It’s a party town,” admits Waller, 28, adding hopefully: “But it’s also a golfer town in the winter.”

Entrepreneur of the week

Entrepreneur of the week: FolioShack

FolioShack is a unique platform to publish smart and beautiful interactive documents to any device including desktop, iPhone and iPad.

Bars with a difference sail to success in the wake of Drake

Sir Francis Drake, the 16th-century English sea captain and navigator, was in some sense an early entrepreneur. When not robbing Spanish gold to pay for his journeys across the globe, Drake raised money from Queen Elizabeth I and London’s upper classes in exchange for a stake in any booty he plundered.

The funky approach to crisps that’s brought bags of success

Dave Willis was delivering Hula Hoops and McCoys to pubs all over London in his old job as a driver when he decided he could make something better than the food in the back of his van.

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