Daughter of ex-Dragon 
had job at his privare equity firm

The daughter of a Government adviser who called for parents to take a back seat when it came to helping their children find jobs was employed at his private equity firm, it emerged yesterday.

Entrepreneur James Caan said it was important for parents to “let the child stand on his own two feet” and suggested they should only step in after “the child has tried everything” and still not found a job.

The former Dragon’s Den panellist’s website reveals Hanah 
Caan spent a year working at his private equity firm, Hamilton Bradshaw.

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In 2010 she joined the board of trustees at the James Caan Foundation, a charity set up to help the world’s poorest communities.

Mr Caan, the Government’s new social mobility tsar, told the Daily Telegraph: “You are trying to develop your child too; you don’t want them to feel as though they don’t have to make the effort.”

He also called for an end to the culture that means corporate doors are opened to young people simply because of who they know.

“I fully understand that parents would want to do the best for their children,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

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“But one of the things that I notice is that I don’t think it’s good to create a society where people get jobs based on who you know rather than what you can do.

“I think allowing children the opportunity to develop and find their own way through life is very good for society and very good for the kids. Not everybody is fortunate enough to be able to be as well connected and therefore to make it a slightly more fair society is something we should encourage.”

Writing on his website, Mr Caan also confirmed that his eldest daughter Jemma worked for a company he invested in, but insisted she had faced a “rigorous” recruitment process.

The businessman said he was “no different” to other parents who wanted to help their children but said his role as an entrepreneur was to “raise awareness that businesses should open their doors to all”.

Comment: Page 12.

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