Rebuilding trust should be top business resolution in 2010 After a difficult year for many top brands, from ongoing strike disputes at British Airways and Royal Mail to the latest Eurostar snow crisis, businesses are being reminded that rebuilding customer trust and loyalty should be their top priority in the New Year.

Lord Sugar sets the record straight Lord Sugar has hit back at the critics who claim that he is “out of touch with SMEs”, insisting that he is “passionately committed” to helping small firms.

The government enterprise tsar reportedly said SMEs who complained about being refused loans were “moaners” who were living in “Disneyland”.

Use Christmas to re-energise for 2010 The season to be merry is upon us as we rush to prepare for a few days off work. Then comes the strain of too much food, drink or financial worries and Christmas is anything but relaxing. Hoping to promote Christmas cheer in tough economic times, Apprentice star, Claire Young has launched the 'Balancing Britain Campaign', working with Chinese health and wellbeing organisation Lishi in a bid to encourage the nation to switch off over Christmas.

The Government is acting like a 'sat nav with no postcode' Entrepreneur Rik Hellewell, owner of the UK’s largest oven-valeting franchise network, Ovenu, has slammed the Government for acting like a ’sat nav with no postcode’ saying they would do well to follow the lead of their counterparts in the southern hemisphere.

The UK's 'excessive' boardroom habits are a complete waste of time Charlie Mullins has hit out at the ‘excessive’ boardroom habits of UK businesses, saying firms need to adopt a ‘less talk more work’ attitude if they are to survive the downturn.

Leading entrepreneur slams 'greedy bankers' over plans to abolish cheques Charlie Mullins, managing director of leading independent plumbing firm, Pimlico Plumbers, has slammed controversial plans by British banks, which could see cheques abolished by 2018.

Recession helps to push 300,000 into starting up a home-based business The number of people starting their own business from a spare room or the garden shed has risen dramatically as the recession bites, reveals a research report - The 2009 Home Business Report released by Enterprise Nation and supported by BT - saw almost a third of a million people made the decision to go alone in the last 12 months, with 5,500 every week leaving behind commuting and the office for the chance to be their own boss.

London entrepreneurs strip off for charity A group of young technology entrepreneurs have joined together for charity to create the first Nude London Tech calendar features 24 tasteful portraits of London's IT pioneers.

The photos show the men and women posing with strategically-placed laptops or wrapped in computer cables.

Julie Meyer: Sugar isn't on message Following on from Lord Sugar’s comments on entrepreneurs, which has sparked a wave of media coverage, we spoke to Julie Meyer, a Dragon on Online BBC Dragons Den and CEO and Founder of Ariadne Capital to get her thoughts on the comments and also whether she thinks they were right or justified.

Adversity motivates UK’s successful entrepreneurs A recently published survey claims that personal adversity is the most leading driving factor motivating the UK’s successful entrepreneurs. Seven out of ten (69%) say they have been motivated by adversity including parental divorce, a car crash, cancer, and under- achieving at school. And the majority (56%) say determination is the most important characteristic for a successful entrepreneur, followed by passion (22%).

Do you see Angels? It’s tough to be an entrepreneur out there in this current market, tougher than I’ve ever seen it before. Small business owners with stellar ideas for start-up ventures and innovators with life-changing inventions are being left dangling over the precipice of despair, abandoned by institutions that previously might have funded them, and having to watch their dreams crumble.

Could Gordon Brown lead a business? We asked Paul Bridle, leadership methodologist to reflect on the Prime Minister's speech to the Labour Party conference last week

Microsoft sparks race row after removing black face from advert Microsoft has sparked a huge race row after removing black face from advert

Could being grateful be making you weak? “I guess I'm just lucky to have a job at the moment.”

This is a common response to the “how things are going at work?” question. With so many redundancies, many people feel grateful to still be in gainful employment and relieved that it's their salary rather than savings that will feed the family for another month.

Can a 'technophobe' really make it as a successful entrepreneur? Are there three people in your relationship – you, your partner and your Blackberry? From the bedroom to the gym and even on the beaches of foreign shores, a Blackberry or iPhone is often never far from an entrepreneur’s side.

Apple has sold 21.17 million iPhones worldwide and last week RIM, the Canadian technology firm behind the BlackBerry, has unveiled a new mass-market version of its popular phone.

Do entrepreneurs ‘think’ differently to other people? How different are entrepreneurs? Robbie Steinhouse, author of the book ‘Think like an entrepreneur’, believes that the entrepreneurial mindset is truly distinct. Entrepreneurs have a very specific attitude to things like risk, luck, convention and decision-making.

Office top summer holiday destination this year Schools may have finished last week, but more than 1 in ten Brits have chosen not to take a week of their annual leave this year because they are worried whether they will still have a job to return to, according to new research.

Don't like your clothes? Just tweet us... Online clothing retailer ASOS is now addressing customer complaints and comments through micro-blogging site Twitter. Is this the start of a change in dealing with customer complaints and something that other companies should follow?

The Apprentice Final live Join us during the final of The Apprentice on Sunday 7th June from 8.30pm for live comment and conversation from business owners and fellow show viewers via twitter. Take part yourself if you are a Twitter user by using the hashtag #bmapprentice

Want to reflect on the series, then join in the debate by commenting below

Business investors – Are you a Gekko or an Allen? Bill Morrow, co-founder of Angels Den looks at whether successful business investors need to be nice guys, or do you have to be a nasty piece of work to make it out there in the big bad world of business?