If We Don’t Produce Entrepreneurs, We’re Doomed
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has made it clear that Ireland is ‘‘open for business’’, and that we aim to be the best small country in the world for business.
Yet data from the recently published GEM Report 2012 survey has indicated that, in the last decade, Ireland’s ranking has dropped from first position among European countries for aspiring entrepreneurs to last (only 8 per cent of the Irish adult population would want to start a business).
That, in a word, is disastrous. Without entrepreneurship, we have no internally-generated jobs. With-out internally-generated jobs, we have no hope of putting a dent in the live register — unless, of course, some rich, benevolent multinationals swoop in, prince-like, to save us.
Far better to leave the fairytales to Cinderella, and the economy to sound pro-entrepreneur policies.
A few months ago, Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton asked me to serve as Chairman of the Entrepreneurship Forum. Comprising successful entrepreneurs, academics and government representatives, the Forum will make some recommendations, which the government can then either ignore or implement.
It’s a hell of a challenge. Having spent my life in computing, I’d love to believe that the great answer lies in the high-tech sector. But in reality, the high-tech sector will only represent perhaps 10 per cent of the workers and jobs in Ireland. So pro-tech and pro-manufacturing policies, while a key part of the plan to a healthy job-creation environment, are only a small part of the solution.
Thankfully, other parts of the solution are already available to entrepreneurs.
Right here, right now, there are numerous programmes of which entrepreneurs can readily take ad- vantage. From Microfinance Ireland (providing loans for up to €25,000 to business which haven’t been able to receive bank financing), to such tax ‘‘rebate’’ schemes as the Seed Capital Scheme and investment programmes such as the Employment and Investment Incentive.
None of these programmes is being tapped to nearly its full potential. Entrepreneurs, where are you? Why are so few of us aspiring to be entrepreneurs and getting new businesses started?
Company formations in Ireland for the first half of 2013 indicate that the number of new companies is up slightly, at a rate of over 15,000 new companies incorporated annually, versus the 14,009 that were created in 2012.
However, lest we get too excited about the creation of 14,009 companies, I should point out that 14,049 companies were also dis- solved last year.
The numbers for January to June 2013 are slightly more encouraging than the ‘‘wash’’ of 2012. We have created 353 more companies than we have struck off or liquidated. But that’s still not enough.
For our country to succeed, more of us need to be creating companies, and fewer of us depending on governmental employment or social benefits as our source of income. This is when the red ink turns to black ink on government budgets, and when the economy begins expanding rather than contracting.
This is when emigration turns to immigration, and the shame of being on public benefits turns into the pride of providing for our families and the customers of our companies, providing public benefits through the work we do in our careers.
What can we do to create more entrepreneurs?
Ireland has always been a place full of dreamers and doers . . . and that’s all that entrepreneurship is, the blend of the two. As citizens,we now must take the responsibility on our own shoulders to create our own jobs, and figure out how to be more efficient, working at greater speed with higher innovation at a reduced cost.
What are we missing? What will help develop and establish a culture of risk-takers who are utterly committed to doing the hard work of building competitive and collaborative businesses? The future of the country depends on many more of us getting engaged and getting successful at serving customers.
How can we help ourselves do this? These are the questions the Entrepreneurship Forum is looking at providing answers to in the coming months.
If we can field world-class rugby players, Olympic athletes, pioneering scientists and technologists, then we can certainly field world- class, fast-growing indigenous businesses. And an Ireland that restores economic growth is an Ireland that expands opportunity and quality of life for all its citizens.
Let’s take responsibility for our future — a future in which the men and women of Ireland (along with all the willing and competent immigrants we can attract) finally exchange a mindset of ‘‘doom and gloom’’ for one of ‘‘build and grow’’.
Originally published at sosv.com on January 30, 2014.
