On Turning Risk Into Opportunity

In his fascinating book, The Second Bounce of the Ball, Ronald Cohen argues that the entrepreneur’s challenge is to take advantage of situations of uncertainty and that this is where substantial gain can be made.  He discusses with John Kampfner his book, what makes a successful entrepreneur, his career building Apax Partners into the largest global private-equity firm based in Europe and the future of private equity.

Sir Ronald Cohen is a founder of the private-equity industry in Europe and one of the world’s leading private equity investors.  He is chairman of Bridges Ventures and The Portland Trust, which seek to provide private-sector, commercial solutions to problems of social deprivation in Britain and to conflict in the Middle East.  He has just launched a £500 m Palestinian housing project to rehouse 90 000 people in the West Bank.

John Kampfner is the editor of the New Statesman. His BBC documentary on the Middle Eastern conflict, The Dirty War, won him Journalist of the Year and Film of the Year from the Foreign Press Association in 2002. He is the author of Blair's Wars.

In association with the New Statesman: www.newstatesman.com