More than 200 business leaders from across the region came to Lancaster University last week to hear Wayne Hemingway MBE talk about how he created a global brand on a start-up budget.

Mr Hemingway, who grew up in Morecambe and is an honorary graduate of Lancaster University, held a masterclass on Wednesday 9 May to share his experiences of his 38 year design career beginning with the building his first brand, Red or Dead, from a small market stall in 1981 to an international brand turning over £25 million per year in 1998.

Having sold Red or Dead in a multi-million pound deal, audience members heard how he was able to realise his passion for cost effective design and social inclusion in setting up multi-disciplinary design agency HemingwayDesign, which has created affordable new build housing schemes, helped transform troubled estates and instigated seaside regeneration projects amongst a whole host of projects.

Professor Angus Laing, Dean of Lancaster University Management School, said: “We were delighted to welcome Wayne to Lancaster. As a leading figure in business and societal engagement in the UK, he offered fascinating insight into the journey a business makes from SME to global enterprise. He is a real example of how creative thinking, innovation and boldness can turn a local market trader into a global CEO and an influencer of urban design and policy. I’m sure the audience took a lot away from the experience.”

While on campus, Mr Hemingway also visited a new innovation studio that is being created at the heart of the University's campus by Lancaster's Enterprise Team. The new space provides a dedicated location for students, student entrepreneurs and partners in University Knowledge Exchange partners to develop their Design Thinking capabilities.

Simon Harrison, Enterprise Programme manager at Lancaster University, said: "We're very keen to understand how organisations of all shapes and sizes can apply Design Thinking to drive innovation and growth. As a creative entrepreneur, it was great to get some insights from Wayne about the importance of developing creativity in higher education."

The event was part of a masterclass series run by Lancaster University Management School and supported by NatWest, which involves inspirational speakers with a passion for business sharing their knowledge and expertise to inspire SMEs. Lancaster University Management School has been running business masterclasses for more than 10 years as part of their business engagement programmes and have drawn audiences in the hundreds from across the North West’s SME networks.

To find out more about Lancaster University Management School's masterclasses, visit http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lums/business/masterclasses/