Lord Harris of Peckham is out to restore a nation's wounded pride this weekend when he vies with 42 rivals, from Brazil to Kazakhstan, for the title of World Entrepreneur of the Year. The Carpetright founder and chief executive is representing the UK in a two-day event in Monte Carlo designed to showcase how companies can be of benefit to economies around the world.

After last week's dismal showing in the Eurovision song contest, Lord Harris is hoping to fare better than Andy Abraham, the former binman turned celebrity crooner, when it comes to performing on the big stage. “Fortunately I don't think I will be asked to sing,” Lord Harris said. “But I'll be giving it my best. I'm very fortunate.”

The Carpet King will be up against the American behind Bratz dolls and an Australian who started out selling roller skates, as a panel of experts pore over the record of the different businessmen in the event, launched by Ernst & Young in 2001. Past winners include Wayne Huizenga, the American billionaire behind the Miami Dolphins, and Guy Laliberte, the founder of Cirque du Soleil.

The event marks the latest twist in not just a colourful year, but a colourful week for Lord Harris, 65. Two days ago The Times disclosed that Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder, had taken a 3per cent stake in Carpetright through his private Cascade Investment LLC fund.

Lord Harris says that is a sign the business is on the right track after a difficult year. Indeed, the entrepreneur is fortunate that the judges in Monte Carlo will be taking a contestant's entire career into account.

Not only has Carpetright had to battle the retail slowdown, but the credit crunch forced Lord Harris to scrap plans for an £800 million buyout of the business he founded 20 years ago.

It was a rare setback for the man who has created not one but two companies in a 50-year career.

He launched Carpetright in 1988 with the frustration of losing his first business, Harris Queensway, to a takeover led by Jimmy Gulliver, the Scottish businessman who swooped on the company when the shares dipped.

“I was very, very disappointed when I was taken over,” he says.

Lord Harris was thrust into the world of retail at the age of 15 after his father's death. He took over a market stall and two shops, one in Peckham and another in Penge.

Today his empire stretches to nearly 600 stores, in the UK as well as the Netherlands, Belgium and Poland, a country Lord Harris jokes he did not even know about as a boy.

He is still as passionate about the products in his store and is known for being able to recite the last purchase, be it an Axminster or five metre by four metre Berber carpet.

He resolutely refused to follow his rivals when laminate and wood flooring became a "must have" a few years ago, and was the first to insist that carpets would be back in fashion.

Away from the business, Lord Harris has sought to put something back into South East London through the Harris Foundation, which has given millions to local charities and supports 19 schools through the Harris Academy.

Lord Harris believes he has already found someone to take over when he is finally ready to retire - his son Martin.

“If he takes up retail he'll be really good,” he once said. “He's got the gift of the gab.”