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Money & Power

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30/06/2018 GMT

Back from the Brink

BBC World Service - Money & Power, Back from the Brink

Stories of entrepreneurs who have tried and failed – and are trying again

Stories of entrepreneurs who have tried and failed – and are trying again.

Meet the entrepreneurs facing the toughest of tests. In three vivid stories from across the globe, we hear from individuals who have created businesses and watched them fail. Now, they are picking themselves up, dusting themselves off, and starting all over again.

Rafael Agostinho Rodrigues, created a massively successful sunglasses brand in his native Brazil, turning over $15 million and employing 45 sales representatives. He watched as cheap Chinese imitations of his high-end products flooded the market and his business went under. Now he is in Miami, Florida, with 14,000 pairs of sunglasses in a warehouse, trying to find an investor so he can start up all over again.

In South Korea, Hyerin Park attempted to kickstart the market for green energy through tidal power. But her ambitious project faced numerous challenges and it went bust. Today she has an innovative new product she is trying to sell – a portable unit which can generate power for campers by dipping it in a stream.

And in Israel, Miriam Lottner set up a web-based animated TV show aimed at getting more young women interested in science and tech. The business failed and now she has created a new educational card game for children. Will she succeed?

We hear about the hopes, the angst and the burning drive which keeps these serial entrepreneurs going even when the going gets tough. 
 
Researcher: Louise Byrne
Producer and Presenter: Georgia Catt

(Photo: Hyerin Park, Korean entrepreneur. Credit: BBC)

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