Readers of my weekly ‘Any Other Business’ column know I occasionally find reason or excuse to slip a restaurant tip in amongst the financial commentary. In that spirit, let me start by saluting the venue for our encounter with North-West & Wales finalists for The Spectator’s Economic Disruptor of the Year Awards 2019. This was 20 Stories, a penthouse restaurant in Manchester’s Spinningfields district, which gave us everything we needed, including fine food, service that never cut across our conversation and a view that encouraged us to think in panoramic terms about the markets our entrants are seeking to disrupt.
With us were regional guest judge Hugh Campbell — founder and managing partner of the investment bank GP Bullhound — and a team from our sponsors, the private bank Julius Baer, led by regional director Gordon Scott and Michelle White from the London office. Joining us later by phone was our second regional guest judge, venture capitalist Stuart Marks.
The first of four finalists to pitch across the lunch table was Manchester-based Intelesant, represented by chief executive Jonathan Burr.
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