Everyone in attendance at last weeks' "Developing Enterprises" event in Galway will agree that we should ditch our macro obsession and instead focus our energy on the micro domain.What am I talking about? Put simply; the core message of the entire panel on the night - in essence, let's focus on and accentuate the possibilities of our start-ups, small and developing businesses, unemployed professionals and budding entrepreneurs. Why? Because it is these people who will help to get Ireland back on-track.
An evening which featured a diverse range of speakers [check out the Developing Enterprises website for full listing], including the projects' founder, Caroline McDonagh of WIN [West of Ireland Networking], Breda Fox, CEO of Galway County and City Enterprise Board, and keynote speaker, entrepreneur, Sean Gallagher, resounded the same theme - think big, start small.
Our 'current economic climate' has had a paralytic effect on many of us. Not least those who've faced huge personal challenges through unemployment, salary reduction or some of the other resultant recessionary impacts. The options may not appear hugely inspiring at first, however, with the right mindset and support, it is possible to overcome and grow.
A key point apparent on the evening was the importance of obtaining support through networking and other support organisations. Having established WIN as a resource for individuals seeking support in their new [or yet to be formed] career-paths, Caroline MacDonagh spoke of the necessity for support, collaboration and confidence-building; a point echoed by Breda Fox of Galway County and City Enterprise Board. Breda described the various supports offered by the organisation, as well as highlighting her own commitment to ensuring entrepreneurs were able to harness these mechanisms to grow and develop their businesses.
Commenting on the key challenges for small business owners, Training and Development specialist, Gert O'Rourke, reiterated the importance of supports for SMEs, citing the high percentage of failures proportionate to unsupported businesses.
As keynote speaker, Sean Gallagher provided a reinforcing summation... I have to admit my pen could hardly keep up with his enthusiasm! For me, and I'm guessing many others, the most salient points related to the need for directing our energy towards the micro and away from the constant stream of macro [what can we do to change what's already happened? it's time to refocus], making problem-solving a habit, and keeping mindset in check [self-confidence, self-awareness and self-determination].
Having provided the audience with a huge portion of the yes-we-can variety of thinking, Sean remarked on the immense value of the event, and how this type of activity would help to rebuild and drive the country forward... and do you know what? I'm pretty sure everyone agreed.
Olwen,
ReplyDeleteI absolutely concur with what you are saying.
I write the "Recovery Index" each week in the Sunday Independent with Nick Webb.
Last week, on the positive side, the ratio of enterprises opening versus those closing quadrupled from last week, the stock of one bedroom properties in the market fell and the number of enquiries seeking contacts for "sales training" to 11850 was up... by 114%. On the negative side, the government bond yield was slowly rising again and the total volume of properties in the market increased.
As is often the case, the macro economic picture looks dim, but patches of the micro economic situation look and continue to be promising!
Keep up your fantastic work!!
Susan