By Ian Stevenson, Saltire Fellow
When I was first asked to write a blog for Global Entrepreneurship Week the suggested title I was given was “Challenges for Entrepreneurship in Scotland”. I thought long and hard about the things that make it difficult for entrepreneurs here, at least from my perspective working largely in high-tech, and I could come up with a very long list. However, many of the challenges on that list apply to aspiring entrepreneurs in many places, and in some cases throughout the world – and people far better informed than I have written about these challenges and proposed solutions or improvements.
My second thought was to change the title to “Opportunities for Entrepreneurship in Scotland”, but that is similarly broad in scope, similarly grandiose, and I am equally unqualified to answer.
Then walking to a meeting this morning I saw a poster advertising the Christmas Pantomime “Aladdin”. It made me wonder what I would do if I had the standard “three wishes” to help make life better for the companies I work with – and that has become the subject for this blog. My three wishes based on the companies I work with and that I see – hopefully some of which have some applicability to entrepreneurship in general.
Wish 1: Ambition
“I wish that everyone could have ambition for successful entrepreneurship”
I’d really like to see everyone get behind the idea that entrepreneurship is a vital part of the economy, and that success for entrepreneurs translates into success for the everyone. With that ambition will come an understanding that entrepreneurship is risky, and that if we are to have successes, we must also have failures. We need to learn to view these failures as a necessary part of the journey to success, and celebrate them as such.
There are many different types of success for entrepreneurship. Wealth is the obvious form of success, but some people take the entrepreneurial path to suit their lifestyle, to deliver social benefit, or because they need an income and have no other way of winning one (especially in a difficult economy). These are all vital activities, and all useful to the economy as a whole.
I am not wishing that everyone should be an entrepreneur but simply that everyone should be ambitious for the success, however defined, of those that do.
Wish 2: Action
“I wish that everyone would take action to support entrepreneurship”
Let me give an example of where, to my shame, I failed to do this. In the little parade of shops where I live a new computer repair and accessories shop opened up. I never went in. I fix my own computers, and I assumed their prices would be over the top compared with my usual internet suppliers. They weren’t open on weekends when I was usually passing. I imagined that they would do OK servicing the less technically literate, and I ignored it. The shop closed a few months later.
I could have gone in to that shop. I could have bought something – I am a sucker for computer related gadgets after all. It would have given them, through what they had in the shop and perhaps by talking to me, the opportunity to explain what they had to offer. If I didn’t want to buy anything, I could have at least chatted to the owner(s) and explained why – that way I would have given them the opportunity to modify their pricing or amend their opening hours. I didn’t take a very simple action that could have helped an entrepreneur.
Everyone has opportunities to support new or growing businesses. So I am going to try to do better, and my wish is that everyone else will too.
To achieve this, my simple rules for myself are
- If a new shop opens, I should go in
- If I see or hear about a new supplier, product or service, I should try it
- I should give feedback – it offers a business the chance to do better
- I should do this at work as well as at home
Wish 3: Simplification
“I wish that everyone would work to make entrepreneurship just a little simpler”
Entrepreneurs have enough to deal with just trying to make their projects or businesses work, and yet they face huge complexity in dealing with the world around them. Tax, employment, health and safety, contracts, tender and bidding processes, credit control. Whether it is applying for grants, complying with legislation or dealing with suppliers, customers, and bankers it always seems to be too hard –more so than I can see logical justification for. I recognise the need for processes that are fit for purpose in protecting everyone’s interest, but I’d like recognition that unnecessary overhead often creeps in and can be extraordinarily damaging to new business.
I wish these things were simpler.
Work in Progress
Here’s the good news. For an ambitious entrepreneur with a good idea, I don’t see any fundamental barrier to success. I have the privilege of working on a day to day basis with people who are just getting on with the job and building businesses. It could be easier for them, but it is perfectly possible.
I don’t want to give the impression with my wishes for improvement that I think they do this unsupported either – there are a vast number of people, businesses, schemes, charities and groups that support and encourage entrepreneurship from school onwards, and which do excellent work. There are grants, prizes, bursaries, training programmes, networking events and incubators. There is a huge community of support. I’m not even going to attempt to list all the good work here – the exception I will make is the Saltire Foundation which has had a profound impact on my ability to contribute to entrepreneurial ventures, and which I sincerely believe has an important role to play in raising ambition and enabling action.
We could always do more, we could always do better, but I believe anyone who says entrepreneurs aren’t supported or can’t succeed in Scotland is just plain wrong..
Forget the Magic – Just Do It!
Leading by example, we can raise entrepreneurial ambitions.
Leading by example, we can encourage others to actions that support entrepreneurship.
Leading by example, we can simplify life for entrepreneurs.
I’m not convinced I need to go looking for a lamp containing a genie – let’s just get on and do it!
This blog was originally published by the Saltire Foundation. For more on the Saltire Foundation, visit http://www.saltirefoundation.com
