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When the van and minibus dealer decided he could do a better job than the local banks, the authorities told him it was impossible, even criminal. He pushed harder, set up Burnley Savings and Loans, and found himself starring in Channel 4’s Bank of Dave. There’s now a big queue of eager depositors and borrowers. In a real-life story of David and Goliath, with lessons for businesses big and small, he explains what made him take on seemingly insurmountable odds.
Dave Fishwick is the Burnley businessman who made policymakers, industry regulators and multinational banks sit up and take notice. The man behind ‘The Bank of Dave’ has torn up the rule book and generated huge media and popular interest.
From humble beginnings Dave began work on a building site - but his passion lay with cars, and he persuaded a dealer to let him clean up and sell an old banger. He made twenty-seven-pound profit, enough to start trading in his own right. Spotting a gap in the market, he turned his attention to vans and buses. Since then, he’s become the UK’s largest independent supplier and fitter of minibuses.
But that wasn’t enough. When the banking crisis descended, Dave was convinced he could do better. How difficult is it, he asked himself, to offer savers decent interest and lend their money to local businesses at a slightly higher rate? He set out to do just that. What followed is a tale of Dave and Goliath, with experts telling him it was impossible and potentially criminal to set up a retail bank. But they didn’t reckon with Dave’s determination and spirit: Burnley Saving and Loans is now succeeding beyond all expectations - giving any profits to local charities.
Dave’s down-to-earth humour and unwillingness to take ‘no’ for an answer has been captured in Channel 4’s Bank of Dave. In presentations he talks passionately about entrepreneurial zeal and what made him take on a seemingly insurmountable challenge. With lessons for business big and small, he also shares his four rules of business; number four is never ever give up.
The film version of Bank of Dave was released on Netflix, with Rory Kinnear portraying Dave, was a smash hit and went to number one in the most watched charts. The Bank of Dave documentary Series has been acquired by Netflix, remastered into 4K and launched on the streaming platform.
An expert on entrepreneurship, business, and finance, he shares the story behind taking on a seemingly impossible challenges, offering valuable lessons for businesses big and small.
