Valerie Vaz MP was elected as the Member of Parliament for Walsall South in May 2010 after 20 years in politics on the road to becoming an MP. She spoke of the challenges she faced in the political landscape and how taking a chance on a seat and seizing an opportunity was ultimately the key to her election. She talked about chances in life and not to think of excuses not to do something, “Don’t wait to be asked, see an opportunity and take it. There will be obstacles but you will find a way to go around them.” Valerie, a qualified solicitor, spoke of how family support, strength and example are vital. Growing up in Aden, Yemen, showed her the opportunities available to people as people were not judged on sex, race or skin colour. Growing up, her parents encouraged her to be whatever she wanted to be and to fully realize her potential. “You have to be yourself, each one of us is unique we all have our unique talents, every one of us has our own journey and own individual story”. “Every single thing you do is a piece of skill that can be used at a later date and you may not know when you will need to use it, all expertise is worthwhile and useful”. Don’t think twice, you know you can do it and see obstacles as something you can overcome”.

Dinesh Dhamija, founder of Ebookers.com, talked about starting his own business from a kiosk in Earls Court and how he grew it along with his wife over 25 years. He recounted the story about how seizing an opportunity when he was asked to act as a box office. This opened up more opportunities for him and encouraged all present to seize them as they came along. He spoke about investing in yourself to open more opportunities and how creating them combined with a little luck has been the key to his success. He spoke of thinking big and believing you are going to do it. He jumped at the new phenomenon of the “internet” and went from selling airline tickets from a kiosk to a website. He said, “We then went to selling to 60 million people in the UK and then over 300 million people in Europe.” He told the audience that an internet year is like a dog year and that was his thinking when he paid vast sums to new internet providers for exclusive deals for travel in parts of Europe. Although at the time of the sale of ebookers.com, he valued the company at more than it sold for, his wife reminded him that it was a good time to exit and that too was seizing an opportunity!