The Age of the Entrepreneur

As the year draws to a close we can see that slowly but surely the world order is changing. The realisation here is that in almost every walk of personal, corporate and even national life, excess will lead to disaster and that, ultimately, common sense must prevail. 

In the last decade we have witnessed many things; a culmination of cheap credit, cheap goods from Asia, greed, government changes and a bloated and bureaucratic public sector have contributed to the Western world landing on its knees.

Internet enabled communication and the emergence of social media have levelled the playing field and facilitated an unprecedented transfer of power and wealth, not only from West to East, but also within our own societies. Luckily, many entrepreneurs see this transfer as beneficial; entrepreneurs are quick to adapt and fiercely resilient and will bravely change the course of business to suit the prevailing business conditions.

Welcome to the age of the entrepreneur. 

Broadly speaking entrepreneurs are creative, passionate, hard-working and generous. Not only do they create wealth for themselves and society, they also help others climb the ladder of success. They disrupt the status quo and act as a force for good, using their influence to support sustainability, employment and opportunity and recognising that the future is about people and planet, as well as profit. 

We are suffering from many ills, but reality is returning. Entrepreneurs represent a huge percentage of the SME and Micro business sectors and whilst creating employment for themselves they make a huge impact to the employment market. The West must now concentrate on finding the means to support the lives we have become accustomed to. To do this we need to raise the bar of efficiencies, support manufacturing and export, and be more protective of our core competencies. Bring on the entrepreneurs!