LANCASHIRE LEADERS
DAVE’S TAKE ON LEADERSHIP
What do you think makes a good leader?
Leadership is important, someone has to be there at the front. But you really need a good team behind you. Surround yourself with good people and look after them and things will happen.
Which leaders have inspired you?
RED CARPET MOMENTS
Dave Fishwick is getting used to the red- carpet treatment, whether it is in his native Burnley or Tinseltown.
The businessman and entrepreneur was seen by millions interviewing Hollywood’s great and good while at The Oscars with his wife Nicky, as part of ITV’s coverage of the big event.
Earlier in the year he took centre stage himself as Burnley brushed aside the snow and rolled out its own red carpet to host its second world film premiere.
The Netflix movie ‘Bank of Dave 2: The Loan Ranger’ is the second centred on Dave and his work to take on giants of the finance industry.
The first, based on Dave’s life and how he
Dave, who founded Burnley Savings and Loans after making his fortune selling minibuses, says: “I just feel we’ve been incredibly lucky. For Netflix to turn up not just once, but twice! My life has been changed forever, for the better.”
He adds: “What’s really super about it is the local people are so, so involved. And the fact that Netflix has been amazing and chosen to have the premiere here.”
Large parts of the movie were filmed in Burnley, including scenes shot in the Talbot pub, where Dave used to pop in for a pie and a pint, and in his own home.
He said: “In my house there were something like 127 people. These huge trucks and wagons
I’d met people who’d tried to run away from home
because of the terrible things that were happening to them through the payday loan industry
battled to open the ‘Bank of Dave’ in Burnley, also had its premiere in the town. In real life it was a crusade that required all the businessman’s leadership qualities.
The sequel is also based on a version of his real-life story and how he found himself playing a leading role in another big campaign. Two years after founding Britain’s very first community bank, Dave is back taking on a new opponent – payday loan companies.
The original Dave movie hit the number one spot on Netflix’s most streamed movies when it was released on the platform in 2023.
coming down the drive at 6am. And they genuinely want to make the best film. Nobody makes this film for the money. Everyone’s involved – including the community – because they want to be, and I think that’s awesome.”
Dave also explained how Netflix originally became involved. He says: “I’ve been making documentaries for both UK and US television. I got a phone call from Hollywood – like you do when you come from Burnley!
“It was a guy called Piers Ashworth, who was a writer on one of the first Mission Impossibles for Tom Cruise who is, if you squint, very similar to me!
Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, who were close friends and business partners and ran their investment business with honesty and decency. A lot has been written about them and I’ve read a lot.
What qualities does a leader need?
It is about stepping forward and taking responsibility and leading from the front. But always having in your mind that the most important thing is that team. Good communication is 100 per cent important, it is everything.
“Piers had just had a big hit in the UK with a film called Fisherman’s Friends and was looking for another feel-good movie.
“One night he was having dinner with the voiceover guy of the original Bank of Dave documentary series and he told him about my story; how I left school at 16, became a builder’s labourer and was now building my own high-street bank.
“So Piers watched the programmes, he read my book and then he called me to say, ‘I want to make a story about your life’. I told him: ‘You had better get yourself down to Burnley, then, hadn’t you?’ It was bonkers.”
The new film focuses on the work of Dave and his right-hand man David Henshaw to take on payday loan lenders. It’s a mission that takes Dave from Burnley to the US.
Dave explains: “David H and I were getting letters, one after the other, from people being charged five and six thousand per cent APR, so they’d borrow £400 and it would turn into a few thousand in just a few months. It was unbelievable.
“I’d met people who’d tried to run away from home because of the terrible things that were happening to them through the payday loan industry.”
The ‘Dave’ story isn’t over yet. A musical stage show of Bank of Dave is currently in development.
He continues to be an advocate for a better way to do banking, appearing at the Independent Community Bankers of America convention in Nashville in March. It is an organisation that represents around 5,000 small and mid-sized financial institutions in the US.
LANCASHIREBUSINES SV
IEW.CO.UK
33
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94
