Artistes of the Month
Also featured: Peter Bazalgette, Navdip Dhariwal
James Averdieck
James
Averdieck is the founder and Managing Director of Gü Chocolate Puds,
launched in May 2003.
Born in Yorkshire in 1965, James was educated at Uppingham School before studying Economics at Durham University from 1985 to 1988.
After leaving university, James joined the graduate programme at strategy consultants, Arthur D. Little, where he stayed for two years, working in Europe, US and the Middle East. He enjoyed consulting and learnt about the key drivers to a successful business, but wanted to get closer to the coal-face.
James spent the next 9 years in Food industry working for both Safeway and St Ivel and learnt about Sales and Marketing and running businesses. With St Ivel he moved to Belgium and became a convert to Belgian gastronomy and, as he says, 'went native on the chocolate front'. It was in Brussels that the seed was sown for his UK chocolate venture. James saw the opportunity of marrying high quality chocolate patisserie with efficient UK supermarket distribution.
James realised that UK consumers were demanding more quality and moving away from mass-produced 'branded' products. By marrying up high quality chocolate patisserie with efficient UK supermarket distribution, James was confident he could take on the big players.
He wanted to create a brand "more focused than the big brands on using high-quality raw materials to deliver uncompromisingly good products."
Gü, the brand, is about chocolate extremism - evoking nostalgic memories and magical smells of baking with chocolate. The brand was well received by the supermarkets, launching first in Sainsburys and Waitrose with the others following apace.
Five years on Gü is the fastest growing food company in UK and is credited with revolutionising the quality of desserts. It has offices in London and Paris, selling in UK, France, Ireland and Belgium. In the process, James has realised his chocolate dream of selling soufflés to the French and chocolate to the Belgians.
James is married to Annie, with whom he lives in West London with their
two children and miniature Schnauzer.
Peter Bazalgette
Peter
Bazalgette is one of the leading figures
in international TV production and media
convergence. He helped to establish the
independent TV production industry in the
UK and became global head of programme
creation for Endemol. He was responsible for
hits like Big Brother and Deal or No Deal, as
well as formats of his own such as Ready
Steady Cook and Changing Rooms. He is
currently an advisor to Endemol and a director of several digital companies
including YouGov and MyVideoRights. He is also a former board member of
Channel 4. Peter now sits on the board of the English National Opera and
is Deputy Chairman of the National Film and Television School. He broadcasts,
writes regularly for the newspapers and is the author of several books
including The Food Revolution and Billion Dollar Game.
Peter speaks regularly on all aspects of media, the digital revolution
and managing creativity. As an aside, he also speaks with humour about
‘The Great Stink’ – the story of how his great great grandfather
(Sir Joseph Bazalgette) cleansed Victorian London with his sewage
system.
Peter was President of the Cambridge Union in the 1970’s, worked as a BBC documentary reporter in the 1980’s and delivered the Mac Taggart Lecture at the Edinburgh International TV Festival in 1998.
“He captivated his audience with predictions on the future of
TV that were grounded in practical realities, endorsed by the authority
of his global experience, and animated by his unique brand of self-effacing
humour.”
Walt Disney Television, EMEA - Peter spoke at a Disney Worldwide Management
Conference in April 2008
“Peter was insightful, motivating and fun to listen to. He speaks
with conviction and is armed with a tremendous knowledge of what is working
and what is not in the digital world. Our audience found this a really
stimulating contribution.”
Deloitte - Peter gave a speech covering media predictions for the
coming year in January 2008
“Peter’s presentation drew on all his experience in the
world of media, hit the brief exactly, was extremely engaging and amusing,
and really set the scene for the rest of the conference. I cannot recommend
him highly enough.”
Financial Times - Peter spoke at the FT's Interantional Sales Conference
January 2008
“Peter Bazalgette is that rare combination – both authoritative
and engaging. For the informed, Peter is the voice of television production
in the UK. For the viewer, Peter’s speaking is to be enjoyed –
the public is captivated and entertained.
Speech for The Marketing Group of Great Britain about the TV formats
that created billionaires - October 2007
Navdip
Dhariwal 
Navdip Dhariwal has recently returned from Delhi where she was the BBC's South Asia correspondent. She covered the region from India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh and reported stories such as the tsunami in Sri Lanka and the Kashmir dispute.
She has additionally reported on India's expanding economy, the Nepalese coup and the surprise result of the Indian election in 2004.
Navdip started her broadcast career on pirate radio in Bristol before freelancing for BBC Radio 4's You and Yours programme and reporting for documentaries.
She first joined the BBC in 1996 as a television reporter for BBC South. Her work included exclusive reports on girl suicides and the controversy surrounding the regeneration of urban centres.
She went on to become the region's Health correspondent.
After four years in regional television and radio, Navdip was snapped up by the BBC's One O'clock news. As special correspondent she reported on domestic news before becoming the social affairs correspondent for the BBC One O'clock and BBC Six O'clock News.
Navdip went on to work for Current Affairs and the BBC's 4 x 4 Reports series which took her to South Africa, the US, Canada and East Africa on stories targeting the UK audience.
She was also a presenter on the consumer series Hard Cash.
She went on to become a news correspondent covering high profile court cases for BBC TV news.
Before being appointed the South Asia correspondent, Navdip reported on BBC Four's international news programme "The World", covering the worsening security situation in Iraq and politics in the Middle East.
Navdip has been nominated for numerous awards for her reports on Asia.
She was born into an immigrant family in Southall, West London in 1969.
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