Interior design superstar Kelly Hoppen has a word of advice for budding entrepreneurs: don’t plough your own cash into starting up a business.

"People think you need thousands of millions of pounds to set up your own company," she says. "That’s a complete fallacy.”

Hoppen, who designs interiors for wealthy private clients, publishes homeware books and has a product range in Bhs, got her first commission as a designer when she was just 16: “My stepfather’s friend wanted his kitchen done and I said, ‘I’ll do it’. It sounds absurd but that’s the truth.

"Things just grew from there. I didn’t go to college. I was the worst mathematician at school. I’m dyslexic. And yet I now run a multi-million pound interior design business.”

“It just shows that nothing is impossible,” she says.

“Starting a business isn’t about getting investment; it’s about coming up with a really brilliant idea and working out how you can make money without any upfront costs.

"If somebody wanted to start an interior design business tomorrow, all they need is a telephone. If they’re clever, they’ll get a deposit of half the amount before they start designing.”

Impressively, Hoppen has built her £18m-turnover business without a penny of outside equity investment.

“We’ve occasionally had to borrow very small amounts from the bank,” she admits. “After 9/11, for example, the business really suffered and it took us a couple of years to get back on track.”

But she’s scathing about the attitude of big banks to SMEs: “Banks could be a lot more accommodating when it comes to helping businesses. I think all the advertising they do on television is a lot of shit, actually.”

Read a full interview with Kelly Hoppen in the October edition of Real Business magazine.

Visit www.kellyhoppen.com.

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