Campbell, who played 73 times for England and won Premier League titles with Arsenal told a room full of excited startup founders about his business experiences since hanging up his boots and how they could understand and prevent cybercrime in their small businesses.
“Business has felt like a natural fit after my playing career. For me, I could see a lot of transferable skills from my playing days that I knew I could use in a business environment,” Campbell said whilst speaking at the event hosted by Barclays Business Banking.
Together with his wife Fiona, Campbell co-owns FBC, a luxury furniture brand selling high-quality, traditional British items, custom-built in the North of England.
Launched five years ago, the company is going from strength to strength and recently opened a second London showroom by investing in new premises in Westminster.
Looking to the future, Campbell plans to expand FBC internationally in the next few years. The footballer-come-entrepreneur has struck up talks with potential partners in New York, with a view to begin exporting to the US.
Campbell went on to say that whilst starting a business seemed like a natural next-step for him, it may not be right for other ex-footballers.
“I think it really depends on each individual and what they want to achieve. Some players want to remain in the world of football to develop their managerial career,” he added.
“On the football pitch, I learnt how to manage and motivate a team effectively, which is very useful when you end up running a company. You learn quickly how to motivate individuals so that they can become good team players.”
With the average cost of fraud to a UK business amounting to nearly £35,000, recent research from YouGov showed that almost half of Britain’s SMEs have been targeted by fraudsters, with roughly one in four of those targeted falling victim to fraud.
