IELTS Speaking Part 2: A Person with a Successful Business – Model Answers 2026

This is a new Part 2 topic in the official IELTS Speaking question bank for May–August 2026. You have one minute to prepare and two minutes to speak. Start with the person and the business immediately.

Cue Card

Describe a person you know who has a successful business.

You should say:
– Who this person is
– How you got to know him or her
– Why and how he or she started the business
– What business he or she does
– And explain why you think the business is successful

Model Answer

There is a woman named Clara who runs a bakery and cafe about ten minutes from where I live. I became a regular customer about four years ago and over time, through enough conversations across the counter, we have become genuinely friendly.

She started the business around seven years ago after losing her office job during an economic downturn. By her own account, it was the best thing that could have happened to her. She had been baking at home for years and selling pastries informally to neighbours and at local weekend markets. When she lost her job she had enough savings to take the risk seriously, so she did. She found a small shopfront, signed a lease, and opened within three months of being made redundant.

The cafe specialises in artisan breads, handcrafted pastries, and specialty coffee. What makes it stand out is not just the quality, which is genuinely excellent, but the consistency. Clara is almost always in the kitchen herself. The menu changes slightly by season but the standard never drops. Every item is made from scratch using locally sourced ingredients, and she is transparent about that in a way that builds real trust with customers.

The business has now expanded from one location to three over five years. There is almost always a queue out the door on weekend mornings. But what I find more telling is the staff turnover, or rather the lack of it. Most of her team have been there since the beginning. In an industry with notoriously high turnover, that says more about how she runs it than any revenue figure could.

Why This Works

The answer introduces Clara naturally, explains the origin story with a specific detail (made redundant and pivoted), describes the business precisely, and closes with an unconventional measure of success (staff retention) that signals genuine analytical thinking.

📌 Band 7-8 Vocabulary:
– by her own account — according to what she herself has said
– made redundant — dismissed from a job because the position is no longer needed
– artisan — made in a traditional or non-mechanised way
– consistency — the quality of always performing at the same standard
– notoriously — famous for something negative or undesirable

IELTS Speaking Part 3: Successful Business Questions and Model Answers

Question 1: Why do some people start their own business?

Model Answer:
The motivations vary considerably. Some people are driven by a specific idea they believe in and cannot find anywhere else. Others are pushed into it by circumstance, redundancy, frustration with corporate life, or simply running out of other options. In the US, the majority of new businesses are started by people over forty, which suggests that experience and financial stability matter more than youth and enthusiasm. In the UK, the number of self-employed workers has grown steadily for two decades. The common thread is usually a combination of dissatisfaction with the alternative and confidence in something specific they can offer.

Question 2: Should governments provide financial support to start-ups?

Model Answer:
Targeted support is justified in certain sectors. The US government’s Small Business Administration has provided loan guarantees to millions of businesses since the 1950s, and many of those businesses became significant employers. The UK’s Start Up Loans programme has funded over ninety thousand businesses since 2012. The risk is that poorly designed support subsidises bad ideas at public expense. The better approach is what places like the UK and Germany do, providing mentorship and infrastructure alongside funding rather than just writing cheques and hoping for the best.

Question 3: Do most people prefer shopping at big stores or small stores?

Model Answer:
Preference depends on what someone is buying and what they value. For convenience and price, large retailers and online platforms win almost every time. Amazon has effectively trained an entire generation of consumers to expect next-day delivery at the lowest possible price. But there has been a meaningful counter-movement, particularly in the UK and US, towards buying local. Farmers markets, independent bookshops, artisan food businesses. The success of Small Business Saturday in both countries suggests genuine consumer appetite for the alternative when people are made aware of it and given a reason to choose it.

Question 4: What makes a business successful?

Model Answer:
There is no single answer but the most durable businesses tend to share a few characteristics. A product or service that solves a real problem, financial discipline from the beginning, and a culture that retains good people. Warren Buffett, one of the most successful investors in US history, has consistently said he looks for businesses with a durable competitive advantage, something that makes them hard to replicate. In practice, that often turns out to be not the product itself but the trust and reputation the business has built with its customers over time. Those things take years to develop and are very difficult to copy.

Examiner Tips for IELTS Speaking Part 2 Successful Business

Tip 1: Use an unconventional measure of success.
Staff retention, customer loyalty, community impact. These signal more sophisticated thinking than revenue alone.

Tip 2: The origin story is the most interesting part.
How and why someone started a business is almost always more compelling than what the business does. Give it the most detail.

Tip 3: For Part 3, name real programmes or real figures.
The SBA, Start Up Loans, Warren Buffett, Small Business Saturday. Real references give your answers immediate credibility.

Common Mistakes on This Topic

Describing only what the business sells without explaining why it works
Using only financial metrics to define success
Generic Part 3 answers like “a business is successful when it makes money”
Opening Part 2 with “I would like to talk about a person…”

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this a confirmed IELTS Speaking Part 2 topic for 2026?
Yes. A Person with a Successful Business appears in the official IELTS Speaking question bank for May–August 2026 as a new topic.

Can the business be one I invented?
Yes. Make it specific and plausible. The examiner is assessing your English, not auditing your story.

What if I do not know anyone with a business?
Adapt a business you have visited or read about. Build the person around it. Specificity is what matters.