Do you want to make money or do you want to tick all the boxes correctly?

"We are rowing against a tide where people are more interested in how you are ticking a box, instead of how you are running a business. In private equity we have a very simple job: make money for our shareholders. It is a purity I quite like. Lack of clarity is the source of the trouble; not knowing what your job is." The head of the British Venture Capital Association spoke out about why entrepreneurs and private equity, not government, will be the partnership to save the British economy. (Read more)

The Canadian Venture Capital Association also talks about the power of private equity versus other forms of lending or public market capital. The theme you will see repeated at CVCA conferences and their work with private equity funds,  is the superior performance of aligned interests of privately held capital versus the public markets. The private equity investment is a much more involved and engaged form of ownership that the dispersed model found on the stock market. There a company's shares are typically held by a wide range of institutions, leading to the phenomenon of the "ownerless corporation", where investors fail to hold a powerful management to account.

At Isis, which targets mid-market businesses that are seeking between £2m and £30m of equity, Kolade is looking to sectors such as healthcare and online retail for growth, along with traditional shops.

"If I were to buy into mainstream retail now, the leasehold deals I could do would be extraordinary," he says.

Jacoline Loewen, http://twitter.com/jacolineloewen