Eric helps businesses as The Money Maker

We all know that times are tough for many businesses at the moment.

But despite the current bleak economic climate, there is hope, and this new four-part reality series aims to show that shrewd decisions can help businesses navigate the post-pandemic economy and still deliver a profit.

The Money Maker follows Eric Collins, CEO of Impact X Capital Partners, a venture capital firm supporting underrepresented entrepreneurs across Europe.

Alabama-born Eric, 54, has helped launch and sell a number of businesses over the years, including predictive text firm SwiftKey, which was bought by Microsoft for a reported £250m in 2016.

The Princeton University graduate also worked as a strategy consultant specialising in deals and mergers before founding SpeedSolve, a consumer complaint tracking platform.

On this side of the Pond, the serial entrepreneur and investor was named by the Powerlist as one the most influential black people in Britain and is among the UK’s top 100 BAME leaders in technology by the Financial Times. He also recently joined the board of Tech Nation, a government backed organisation which helps UK startups.

Over the next few weeks, we will follow The Money Maker, as he offers not only his expertise and unrivalled business acumen, but also his own capital investment to four small struggling British businesses.

Eric, who has already been dubbed “Channel 4’s answer to Lord Sugar”, is used to investing millions of other people’s money, but this time it’s from his own pocket.

“This process will involve them facing up to the reality of their situations, making some tough decisions and giving control to someone else, which is never easy,” he says.

Each week, Eric visits a different company in the UK, offering a game-changing investment designed to turn its fortunes around and equip it for growth.

Once embedded in the company, Eric immerses himself into every aspect of business’s day to day workings, challenging the owners and interrogating their plans and visions for the future.

Unafraid to ask the difficult questions, Eric will force the companies to face hard truths as he uncovers what it is that makes them tick.

With his experience enabling him to quickly spot where both problems and opportunities lie, Eric will eventually make an offer of investment, which will be dependent on him taking the reins and introducing significant changes.

In return, he’ll take an equity stake in each business, call the shots and take charge of the transformations he wants to see happen.

In tonight’s first edition, The Money Maker is in Manchester checking out repair and restoration company Prymo.

Lively CEO Jasen says he’s never been busier, but Eric wants to know exactly what’s been keeping him busy, as there isn’t enough profit to expand.

It’s down to Eric to get Jasen to focus on just one aspect of his business at a time, and with one of the most important pitches of Jasen’s career coming up, the Prymo supremo is running out of time to save his entire company.

So will The Money Maker’s changes help Jasen succeed in the toughest economic climate Britain has experienced in generations, or will the pair’s tempestuous relationship get in the way?

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