Optimism can help to spark our recovery

Hope is no easy task when confronted with a bleak economic outlook, with business confidence as fragile as bone china, riots in Britain’s city streets and the prevailing media mood music of daily doom and gloom.

Downturns aren’t defeated by doubt. Pessimism does not lead a region to recovery, a business to boom, or a person to profit.

Negativity is a parasite that robs us all of creativity, energy and action.

Optimism is the name of the game and if we are serious about economic recovery then we must all have more heart in speaking its name.

The government has pinned its hope for the economic fightback on this strategy and in doing so looks to one group more than any other to deliver it: entrepreneurs.

They are a good bet. While most entrepreneurs might accept that the prevailing macro picture remains testing, more likely than not they will have the courageous self-belief that they themselves have bucked the trend and weathered the risks of recession.

Entrepreneurs tend to thrive in the face of adversity. When Sir Richard Branson says, “screw it, let’s do it” he captures the essence of enterprise and the disruptive quality of the entrepreneurial mindset.

Make no mistake, that growing sense of micro or personal confidence is the beginning of the green shoots of economic recovery. The only question for our policy makers is how to nurture it.

There is a positive role for the state in Yorkshire, not only as a deliverer of services or an employer of people. It is uniquely placed as a potential catalyst for confidence because of its cities.

Cities are hotbeds of creativity, clusters for people to group together, and places where it is easier to pull together the sorts of coalitions of the willing that make change possible.

My home city is Sheffield and it has got to grips with this downturn in a very different way to the last time it faced the spectre of recession.

Rail sheds have been replaced by new and thriving sectors like digital. Regenerated and rebuilt, diversified and different, it has an appetite to be a can-do city.

Eighteen months ago a number of us, led by the city’s regeneration agency Creativesheffield, discussed the possibility of establishing a national festival for entrepreneurship, an event that inspired and celebrated the spirit of business, a strategy placing Sheffield firmly on the map as a champion for enterprise.

When I discussed the prospect with some business and media leaders in London, it is fair to say that the response was initially somewhat more cynical.

The great news is that hope overcame doubt. After a superbly successful first year, MADE: The Entrepreneur Festival, returns this September firmly established as a beacon for business.

In turn, initiatives like the Advanced Manufacturing Park in South Yorkshire are a big part of the regional recovery agenda.

This is a part of the world that makes a lot of things and that capability and heritage is a major catalyst to inspire investment and to nurture grass roots entrepreneurship.

This recovery is a local recovery and you will find it delivered on the streets of our cities, not the corridors of Whitehall.

It is a fightback delivered by the Apple generation, one that believes small is beautiful and individual enterprise the goal.

In this recovery, the start-up is the ‘big bang’ moment from which all things become possible and it involves change, lots of it.

In previous downturns, the UK has been rescued by the cavalry of large-scale inward investment. But the thundering hooves of the big beasts are not the predominant feature this time.

In this environment, the arrival of the Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) should be good news as they get the state closer to local entrepreneurs, decision making nearer to real businesses.

But rather than smaller versions of previous regional policy they need to think differently and act as the chief cheerleaders for optimism. If they do one thing well it should be to focus efforts on the transformational potential of positivity.

“Dress cute wherever you go, life is too short to blend in.” Not the words of Sir Mervyn King, but instead those of that little known business sage, Paris Hilton.

She is right and our new LEPs might want to think about that as they develop the new strategies to deliver the economic fightback.

There is a recovery under way but it is fragile and has every chance of faltering, especially if we talk it down or give it up.

It’s a recovery that will be delivered by a county like Yorkshire and a city like Sheffield.

It’s a recovery embodied by the optimism of MADE: The Entrepreneur Festival. Hope to see you there.

n Michael Hayman is co-founder of Seven Hills (www.wearesevenhills.com) and of StartUp Britain (www.startupbritain.org ). He is Chairman of Entrepreneurs at Coutts & Co and for MADE: The Entrepreneur Festival (www.madefestival.com). You can follow Michael on Twitter at @michaelhayman

The Yorkshire Post is hosting a breakfast event at MADE, featuring four of the region’s top entrepreneurs from the fields of manufacturing, social enterprise, retail and turnaround investment.

The free event takes place on September 22 at Mercure St Paul’s Hotel in Sheffield. Tickets available via www.madefestival.com

Showcase of the best

Senior figures from Government, including Business Secretary Vince Cable and Business Minister Mark Prisk, are scheduled to appear at this year’s MADE: The Entrepreneur Festival.

Mr Prisk said: “MADE is a great showcase of the entrepreneurial culture in this country and it is a fantastic opportunity for entrepreneurs to share ideas and knowledge, and help inspire the next generation of business owners.”

Luke Johnson, founder of Risk Capital Partners, Peter Jones, star of Dragons’ Den, Julie Meyer, founder of Ariadne Capital, and Ian Williamson of technology-led plastics business Carclo are among those taking part in events during the September 21-24 festival.