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Hello, welcome to the programme.

And this is our last one before Christmas, and we've given it the title,

Optimists and Opportunists.

Taking it as read that we are, by just about every measure,

heading into a period of economic misery,

we wanted to focus on those intrepid entrepreneurs who, instead

of running for cover, are planning to venture into the storm, setting up new ventures in challenging

circumstances. They are surely either optimistic by nature or opportunistic in their business

acumen, able to see upside when others only see the down.

Are these the worst of times, the best of times to be bold?

Joining me several guests who fit into the category of those venturing out.

Let's briefly introduce them and then we'll give them each a little bit more time to describe what they're up to.

And my first guest is someone you may be familiar with, Sarah Willingham,

formerly a dragon on Dragon's Den, a successful businesswoman,

and who during the first lockdown, when the hospitality sector struggled for customers,

took the extraordinary step of setting up a chain of bars called nightcap.

Tell us about that, Sarah.

So, yeah, when you say that, I do always look back and think of how many people told me I was completely bonkers at the time.

But at the end of the first lockdown, and we had a small investment in 10 cocktail bars in central London.

We were not open, didn't know what to expect, didn't

know what would come. Just like everybody else, we'd taken on lots of debt, and then the doors

...