Simon Tucker: What I picked up at Q's lab

Sometimes the best business opportunities come along when you least expect them. Entrepreneur Simon Tucker overheard a conversation on a train that led to his business breakthrough. James McKeigue explains.

Simon Tucker's breakthrough came from overhearing two men talking on a train. "I wasn't eavesdropping, but I couldn't help but hear their conversation." The men worked for Securicor and they were discussing the group's decision to sell one of its radio technology firms. "They kept on saying that it was a pity because it was a great little company." Tucker, now 40, decided to approach them as they left the train. "I didn't want to let a good business opportunity literally walk away."

He found out that Securicor was selling the business as part of a strategy rethink and that if a buyer wasn't found it would be liquidated. He decided to pay a visit. "When I got there I was amazed. It was like those scenes in James Bond where Q and his assistants walk around with high-tech gadgets." The firm was making specialised radio transmitters for Formula 1 teams. But it was losing money because of its "university approach to business. They were underselling themselves." Seeing the potential, Tucker tried to raise the £530,000 needed to buy the business. "I didn't have the money myself, but thanks to my previous business ventures, there were a lot of people who were prepared to back my ideas with money."

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James McKeigue

James graduated from Keele University with a BA (Hons) in English literature and history, and has a certificate in journalism from the NCTJ. James has worked as a freelance journalist in various Latin American countries.He also had a spell at ITV, as welll as wring for Television Business International and covering the European equity markets for the Forbes.com London bureau. James has travelled extensively in emerging markets, reporting for international energy magazines such as Oil and Gas Investor, and institutional publications such as the Commonwealth Business Environment Report. He is currently the managing editor of LatAm INVESTOR, the UK's only Latin American finance magazine.