Go-ahead Wales is showing its entrepreneurial spirit
Wales has a real opportunity to improve its economic position over the next few years, writes Superstars founder James Taylor
IN Wales, it is fair to say we have no shortage of exciting entrepreneurs, from established and wellknown entrepreneurs such as GoCompare founder Hayley Parsons and Laura Tenison, founder and managing director of JoJo Maman Bebe, to the next generation of fledgling entrepreneurs being uncovered through the Welsh Government’s Big Ideas Wales campaign.
With strong inward investment figures and various schemes to support entrepreneurs, we are striving and doing a good job of being the most entrepreneurial country in the UK and one that is leading the way in Europe.
For the first time this year, we also had The Entrepreneur Wales Awards, recognising those entrepreneurs in Wales who are creating opportunities, bringing innovation and diversifying the country’s economy.
Taking it one step further and building on the work already taking place in Wales to promote and support entrepreneurship, Wales has now been selected to participate in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) prestigious global programme to accelerate economic growth and job creation through innovation-driven entrepreneurship.
Wales is one of eight regions selected from Europe, Asia and South America to join the third cohort of the Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Programme (REAP), and as one of nine REAP champion panel members chosen to lead this project, I’m very excited by the opportunity it presents to increase our international competitiveness and transform the economic fortunes of our nation.
Working alongside a multi-disciplinary team including academics such as Professor Dylan Jones-Evans and entrepreneurs such as Dr Drew Nelson of IQE, over the next two years we will attend four international workshops directed by the MIT faculty.
The purpose of these is to work with the other selected regions in our cohort, namely Al Madinah (Saudi Arabia), Ashdod (Israel), Bangkok (Thailand), Beijing (China), Santiago (Chile), south-west Norway and Tokyo (Japan), to share best practice and experience and strengthen our areas of competitive advantage, as well benefiting from the extensive knowledge and experience of MIT directly.
We will also meet regularly in Wales to make sure we’re maximis- ing the opportunities to change and learn and determining how our innovation capacity, through universities and government, can link up with our entrepreneurial capacity, including innovative businesses, young and high-growth businesses and SMEs, to enable innovationdriven entrepreneurship to flourish.
I strongly believe in the role of innovation in enabling economic growth and building the foundation of a country’s future and private sector competitiveness.
It is great that as a nation we are focused on innovative entrepreneurship, as it can play an important role in contributing to economic growth, job creation and poverty reduction, and can help address key social challenges.
In my eyes, there are six main dimensions that are particularly important for innovative entrepreneurship. These are:
Access to finance – a key driver in the creation, survival and growth of innovative ventures, as it enables new ventures to invest in innovative projects, improve their productivity, finance their growth and meet market demand;
access to knowledge – essential for innovative entrepreneurship, as it is a key source of innovation-driven entrepreneurial opportunities.
market environment – will ultimately determine conditions for business success or failure;
access to labour – the conditions for acquiring highly-skilled human capital by entrepreneurs.
entrepreneurial capabilities and culture – such as business support infrastructure, business and entrepreneurship skills and experience, and attitudes towards entrepreneurship. Culture plays a huge part in affecting innovative entrepreneurship by influencing the tendency of individuals to become entrepreneurs, and
regulatory framework – particularly government regulations and public policies that influence the creation and early-stage growth of new companies, such as the administrative framework for entry and growth.
In considering all of the above, and the learnings we will undoubtedly make through the REAP programme, Wales has a real opportunity to improve its economic position over the next few years and drive forward our entrepreneurial eco system.
James Taylor is founder and CEO of SuperStars (www.superstars.org.uk), the IOD’s Director of the Year, Big Ideas Wales ambassador and a REAP champion panel member. Follow him on Twitter @ jamestaylor_SS