Bernard Ginns: Galvanising the steel city with the spirit of enterprise

Addressing Sheffield City Hall on Thursday morning, Prince Andrew told the audience that MADE is an “extraordinary” festival.

He heralded the importance of leadership and teamwork in business as he welcomed entrepreneurs from across the UK to Sheffield and, as he put it, “God’s Country”.

The Duke said: “The reason I’m here today is because I believe that all of you are leaders in your field.

“I was in the Royal Navy and inculcated in me very early on was the principle of leadership.

“All of you have a role in leadership because you are all leading businesses or business people.

“But there’s another aspect to leadership and entrepreneurship that is equally important and that is teamwork.”

He paid tribute to festival chairman Michael Hayman but said one man alone could not deliver an event of such scale without a team around him. “The same thing is true of what we do in the Royal Family,” he added. “We couldn’t do what we do for the United Kingdom without the team that we have.

“Equally, you can’t do what you do in your businesses without the team of people who are around you.”

A simple message, but an effective one, a little like MADE as a whole. Now in its third year, the festival has succeeded by concentrating on the basics and making sure it delivers them.

In short, MADE brings together inspiring speakers and an up-for-it audience and creates a belief between them that anything might be possible.

The main by-product is that some of the young people in the audience go off and create something worthwhile for themselves. In a country of one million unemployed 16-24 year-olds that is a very positive outcome.

But this year, it is hoped that MADE will create more than just inspiration for the 4,000 or so delegates.

Mr Hayman tells the Yorkshire Post today that Sheffield could become a national pilot for the ideas that come out of the E20 group of entrepreneurs.

This group met at Chatsworth for the first time on Wednesday at a special dinner hosted by the Duke of Devonshire.

This group of self-made men and women, all accomplished individuals renowned for success in enterprise, has been tasked with coming up with solutions to perhaps the greatest problem facing Great Britain today, the “missing million”, the generation of young people who are out of work.

Chaired by Lord Young of Graffham, the Prime Minister’s Enterprise Adviser, the E20’s inaugural summit covered apprenticeships, mentoring, access to finance, enterprise education and the get-up-and-go spirit.

“Some of the ideas were so good,” said Mr Hayman.

“There is strong interest from within the city council to position Sheffield as a national pilot for the ideas that emanate from the E20.”

Indeed, John Mothersole, the chief executive of Sheffield City Council, told me: “We have often talked about private sector leadership on economic issues and the private sector often gets frustrated that they are not given the opportunity to lead.”

Not this time, said Mr Mothersole, who was at the dinner.

“I made a commitment there and then that we would seek to convert the ideas into a city programme to boost interest in entrepreneurship capacity in young people to at least consider it as a future option and more likely than not help young people to discover the entrepreneur that’s inside them.

“To me that’s a very tangible partnership between MADE and the city of Sheffield.”

Through the Government’s City Deals programme, Sheffield has won £25m funding for skills, which will be placed in the control of the city’s employers.

“There is a fit here with what MADE is doing,” said Mr Mothersole.

“It is exposing us as a city to new ideas on a scale that has not happened before.”

He hopes that the project could lead to more successful business start-ups in Sheffield, a city that has lacked in this area in the past.

The city council has backed the festival with both money and goodwill. Mr Hayman estimates that it cost between £250,000 to £300,000 to stage MADE this year, with the private sector contributing 80 per cent of the cost.

This is a fine example of the public and private sectors working together. At most, £300,000 seems a snip for an event of such a scale that has generated such optimism and confidence.

According to Mr Hayman, it is an example of a city “galvanising” itself. That’s fitting for Sheffield. Other cities take note.