Businessman turns apprentice for Sir Philip Green

Matthew Riley finished his first apprenticeship at the age of 18 and now 34 heís doing it all again - his teacher, one of the most astute businessmen in the country, Sir Philip Green.

After winning one of the biggest prizes in business ñ the title of Bank of Scotland Corporate Entrepreneur of Year ñ the CEO of business communications provider daisy has now started to reap the rewards of his money-canít-buy prize.

After winning 5million interest free funding for his company, Matthew was also awarded a high profile mentorship with Arcadia and BHS boss Sir Philip. And that prestigious mentor-protg relationship has begun.

Since being awarded the accolade, Sir Philip has gone above and beyond expectations, as while he was only expected to provide four mentoring days he has been in regular contact with entrepreneur Matthew, providing business advice and direction for daisy.

And now the first of the official mentoring days has taken place, Matthew has been given the opportunity to see first hand the cogs that drive Britainís most successful retail businesses.

ìI went into the first mentoring day wanting to see how Sir Philip manages such a large corporation on a day-to-day basis,î said Matthew. ìHaving been able to do just that and see how he operates, getting an insight into his working life and meeting the people that drive his business, has been phenomenal.î

Shadowing Sir Philip from 9-30 am until 6-30 pm, Matthew embarked on the fly-on-the-wall experience, sitting in on meetings involving many of Arcadiaís high street stores including one involving Octoberís grand opening of Topshop in New York.

Matthew said: ìSir Philip is surrounded by a network of people who get things done. He has a flat level of management, there are no hierarchies in place and he doesnít suffer fools in any way. He knows what needs doing and he makes sure he gets it done at speed. It was truly inspirational to see that first hand in such a large company.

ìI canít explain how invaluable winning the Bank of Scotland Entrepreneur Challenge has been and I would recommend it to any business to enter this yearís contest.î

daisy is a provider of communications solutions to 30,000 small-medium enterprises across the UK and is seen as BTís major competitor within the business community. The companyís early growth was driven solely by organic expansion, but in the last two years it has pursued a strategy of consolidating the fragmented telecom reseller market through acquisitions, two of which have been completed as a result of Bank of Scotlandís regional 5million prize.

The Entrepreneur Challenge is in now in its second year, and Matthew Riley has been appointed to adjudicate for this yearís competition, joining the fellow high profile judges, Audrey Baxter, Chairman and Chief Executive of Baxters Food Group, John Madejski, owner of Reading Football Club, Ardeshir Naghshineh from the Targetfollow Group and Bill Muirhead, Executive Director of M&C Saatchi.

Applicants will enter the Challenge in seven regions across the UK and each regional finalist will be given the opportunity to present their plans to the judging panel. A funding pot of up to 5m is available for each region and the judges will be scrutinising applicants to find the UKís finest entrepreneurial minds. Five finalists from each region will then be invited to a prestigious event in their own region where the successful entrepreneur will be announced.