One of the country's leading retailers will reveal the source of his entrepreneurial zeal at a major conference to be staged in the North-East next month. Lord Kirkham, executive chairman of DFS, will describe how he founded and grew the UK's biggest furniture retailer when he headlines a glittering line-up of guests at the second annual conference of the Entrepreneurs Forum. The conference - on May 12 at the Newcastle Gateshead Hilton - will bring world-class speakers to the region and present unprecedented opportunities for top business brains and young entrepreneurs to meet some of the country's most inspiring business leaders. Lord Kirkham, the son of a Yorkshire miner, established the company that became DFS in 1969. It remained a successful private company for 24 years before being listed on the Stock Exchange in 1993. He bought the company back last year from the shareholders. The tables will be turned on Dragons' Den entrepreneur, Simon Woodroffe, when he steps out in front of the expected 250-strong conference audience. As a "dragon" on the popular BBC2 show, he quizzed entrepreneurs who pitched their ideas to secure investment finance - an experience described by one as like being "put in front of a firing squad". Simon will reveal his own entrepreneurial pedigree as the man behind the restaurant phenomenon YO! Sushi. With his motto CAN I?, which stands for Constant And Never-ending Innovation, he swapped a career in the music business in 1997 for his first conveyor belt sushi bar in London. Since then YO! Sushi has grown to 17 restaurants in the UK with a further four due to open this year and is franchising internationally. Simon is not the only Dragon's Den regular appearing at the conference. The programme's presenter and BBC economics editor, Evan Davis, has been confirmed as compere. Simon, Evan and Lord Kirkham will be joined at the Entrepreneurs' Forum conference by Jacqueline Gold, chief executive of Ann Summers, and Jason Porter, co-founder of Friends Reunited. Jason co-founded www.friendsreunited.co.uk in 2000 with his business partner, Stephen Pankhurst, after they set up their Happygroup to try out some fresh internet ideas. Spotting a gap in the market in the UK, they set up Friends Reunited in their spare time, the floodgates opened and Friends Reunited became a household name with membership reaching ten million. Jacqueline Gold is one of Britain's most successful businesswomen and an inspiration to female entrepreneurs, in particular. She saw the potential in selling sexy lingerie to women in the privacy of their own homes which has been pivotal in Ann Summers' increasing its gross annual sales turnover to £155m. The company employs more than 7,500 women as party organisers, has 121 stores in the UK and Ireland and recently took over the 26-store Knickerbox chain. The parent company, Gold Group International, incorporates property and publishing interests, Gold Air International (a luxurious executive airline) and Birmingham City Football Club. She was voted one of Britain's top ten most powerful women by Cosmopolitan magazine and was Business Communicator of the Year 2004. Carole Beverley, chief executive of the Entrepreneurs Forum, says: "Jacqueline Gold is one of UK business' most charismatic figures and a real inspiration to thousands of entrepreneurs for her drive, imagination and determination." * For further information and conference details, visit www.entrepreneursforum.net | 
