SIR Tom Hunter has admitted one of his greatest business mistakes was not anticipating the financial crisis.

The 54-year-old told a group of young business people at Entrepreneurial Spark in Ayrshire that it was "100 per cent" his fault that his West Coast Capital private equity business was not better prepared.

Those attending the event in Dundonald heard Sir Tom admit the company had lost its focus and had learned an "expensive lesson".

Asked by a member of the audience what his biggest mistake was and how he had learned from it Sir Tom said: "I have made lots of mistakes. One of the biggest was when the financial crisis hit we in our private equity business were not ready and did not see it coming.

"People say 'Tom nobody saw it coming' but people did. I have now become an anorak about the financial crisis and read every book about it [and] tried to really learn from the mistakes we made there."

Sir Tom went on to expand why he thought West Coast Capital was poorly positioned to get through the crisis.

He said: "If I am honest about it we had lost our focus and were too widely spread in the investments we were looking at.

"We were trying to do too much and did not stick to our knitting. Therefore when the crisis hit we were in bad shape to deal with it. It was nobody else's fault, absolutely 100 per cent my fault and I had to deal with it.

"I learned we have to stick to our knitting and get back to the rudimentals of why we had been successful. That laser focus on understanding businesses and the people in businesses when we invest. It was an expensive lesson but a lesson nonetheless."

The exact amount of money Sir Tom lost in the post-2008 crash is not known some reports suggested it was as much as £250 million.

West Coast Capital was heavily backed by Bank of Scotland in the run up to the crisis building up significant stakes in property businesses such as Crest Nicholson and McCarthy & Stone as well as garden centre operators Dobbies and Wyevale.

However Sir Tom believes the private equity business and the philanthropic Hunter Foundation are now well placed to take advantage having learning from past mistakes.

He said: "I genuinely believe the best is yet to come. When we sit either in our private equity business or in the foundation and we see the opportunities in front of us we think 'Wow this is amazing'.

"I need to be 100 per cent at my best to execute that."

Another audience member asked Sir Tom about the financial focus needed in a social enterprise.

The entrepreneur pointed out he has given backing to Josh Littlejohn's chain of Social Bite coffee shops which employ a number of former homeless people and have committed to donate all profits to good causes.

Sir Tom said: "My definition of a social business, which won't be the same as everyone's, is you want them to be 100 per cent focused on profit - that is not a dirty word - but then 100 per cent of the profits go to a good cause.

So you are working every day to maximise the profit and then you can decide what to do with the profit. You have to be really genuine in your social aim."

When asked what habits he had formed to become successful Sir Tom Said: "The habit which every single person her can foster is a can do attitude.

"You decide in the morning when you get up what kind of day you are going to have. As a leader of a business you have to set the tone.

"You have to put on the face as if you do then it is contagious. The same is true if you are a moaner."