Crisis made him, will it make you?

The UK economy was stagnant in January, the latest ONS figures have revealed. Economic reality isn’t keeping up with the upbeat growth narrative we’ve heard from politicians.

To change this picture, we need some practical things like strategic investment, which is why chancellor Rachel Reeves announced £2.5bn for quantum computing and AI this week.

We also heard about advanced plans for a fusion power plant in Nottinghamshire, a bet on the clean energy economy. Of course, we also need regulatory changes, financial incentives, more buoyancy in consumer spending and a bit of stability on the global stage might be nice too (as opposed to trade and military wars).

But maybe we also need some personal stories to inspire confidence in our entrepreneurs, leaders and employees alike – the ground troops on the front line of business growth.

In this week’s newsletter, I want to introduce you to two different people whose ambition and work ethic should give us hope for the UK’s economic future.

Andy Ransom might not be a household name, but he is someone whose hard work and business acumen have led to a British success story. He’s just stepped down as CEO of Rentokil Initial after 12 years. The pest control company is a venerable British institution, more than a century old.

Rentokil’s share price has quadrupled during Ransom’s tenure and profits breached $1bn. He achieved this by focusing the business and pushing its global expansion, through a patient campaign of mergers and acquisitions (his area of expertise, with his legal background).

The making of this future British leader turned out to be a crisis. In fact, it was a domestic terrorist attack in the US, the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995. The culprits had used ammonium nitrate fertiliser in their bomb.

It was an ICI product. Johnnie Cochran, the lawyer who'd just won the OJ Simpson case, was now suing ICI for $4bn. Ransom put his hand up and volunteered to run the case for ICI from the States. And they won.

Reflecting on this period in his career, he said something that has stayed with me. It’s a philosophy that he says has stood him in good stead throughout life:

“When the shit hits the fan, you’ve got a choice. You can either step back, let someone else deal with whatever that problem is, or you can step forward. And I always say, ‘walk towards the fan’.”

Don’t be afraid of moments of crisis in business, because if you are brave and ambitious, they can be the making of you.

You can learn much more about Ransom’s story and his time at Rentokil, from the man himself, if you take a listen to our latest Business Leader Podcast interview below.

The second inspirational person I want to introduce you to is a former apprentice (not the TV show variety!) and you will find him in the And Finally section at the end of this page.

If you want to hear from another CEO who thinks that a moment of adversity was the making of him, then listen to our interview with Sanjay Poonen of US tech firm Cohesity. He thinks getting fired ultimately made him a better leader.

And if you want to take a deep dive into how an institution deals with peaks and troughs, then listen to our special series, The Turnaround, about the Exeter Chiefs rugby club.

Question of the day

At the start of 2025, what was the estimated combined turnover of medium-sized UK businesses?

A. £0.5tn
B. £0.7tn
C. £0.9tn
D. £1.2tn

You'll find the answer at the bottom of this page

What happened this week?

1. A former member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has said that “no one expects a cut” to interest rates amidst deepening conflict in the Middle East. Prof Jonathan Haskel told BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme he believes a rates cut is “completely off the table”.
2. Wage growth slowed sharply in the three months to January, according to the latest snapshot of the jobs market from the Office for National Statistics. Average earnings fell to 3.8 per cent in the three months to January, from 4.2 per cent, marking the slowest rate of wage growth in more than five years. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.2 per cent.
3. National Car Parks (NCP) has gone into administration, putting 682 jobs at risk. The administrator, PwC, said demand for parking had not recovered to pre-Covid levels, pointing to "shifts in commuting and customer driving patterns".
4. A security vulnerability which allowed Companies House users to view and change other companies’ details without their consent was live for at least the past six months, the government registry has admitted. An investigation conducted by Companies House found that the security failure was introduced in an October 2025 update to the system.
5. The Treasury plans to overhaul the handling of consumer complaints about UK financial services by curbing the powers of the Financial Ombudsman Service after it was blamed for deterring investment in the country. The reforms will reduce the ombudsman’s flexibility to rule against companies that have complied with regulation and introduce a 10-year time limit for consumers to complain.

Weekend reading

🪖 How the Iran War is reordering global capital

The fallout from war in the Middle East continues but the tremor is slowly working its way through global markets. Scott Galloway has written about its effect on capital in his Prof G Markets newsletter on Substack this week. Spoiler alert: "The real long-term threat is talent."

🥤 Meet the matcha millionaires

This once-niche Japanese tea has been transformed into a mainstream premium product - and one company has secured a front-of-mind spot with consumers. The Observer has explored how three Gen Zers got rich off lifestyle’s biggest trend with their brand PerfectTed.

And finally

Here’s a story I found quite moving, about a man who joined a company straight out of school as an apprentice and, with his employer’s support, ended up with a PhD! It’s another tale of ambition, grit and determination.

Jack Kay joined Edinburgh-based biotech firm Ingenza in 2012 as an apprentice, aged 16. He had been unsure whether the traditional university route was right for him, so he picked up the phone to the company to ask about work experience. That conversation led to an apprenticeship.

“University didn’t feel like the right fit for me when I was coming to the end of secondary school,” he recalls. “I’m a hands-on learner and I wanted to be in a working lab from the start, so the apprenticeship meant I could earn a wage, gain experience, and build qualifications at the same time.”

He went on to complete an HND in Chemical Sciences at Forth Valley College on ‘day release’, spending the rest of the week working in the lab. He then secured direct entry into third year at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh to study Chemistry with Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry – all while still working for Ingenza.

Jack later undertook a PhD in protein engineering at the University of Plymouth, a study that explored the potential to tackle drug-resistant infections. The doctorate was supported by Ingenza, with the help of an Industrial Fellowship from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851.

Now, Jack specialises in protein engineering and the application of AI in biotechnology at his company.

Jack’s story was highlighted as part of Scottish Apprenticeship Week and it’s an example of a ‘modern apprenticeship’. It should be an example to all. University can feel intimidating for some, whether for cultural or financial reasons.

But this shouldn’t put anyone off learning, self-improvement and discovery. Sympathetic employers can support people who want to take this journey into higher education by offering a bit of flexibility. Many will be rewarded with loyalty, but also a super-engaged worker who can bring new levels of innovation into the business, like Jack.

When this happens at scale, our whole economy will grow.

The answer to our question is C. £0.9tn.