The Bank of Ireland- sponsored RTE TV show Dragons' Denhas succeeded in achieving what most programme makers believed was impossible – making enterprise and entrepreneurship into compelling prime time viewing. The show, now entering its third series in Ireland, has captured the imagination of the viewing public and has made national celebrities of the team of "dragons".
Three of those dragons – Bobby Kerr, Sean Gallagher and Gavin Duffy – have played a leading role in many of the flagship events held during National Enterprise Week and their message to business owners and entrepreneurs was to stay positive and support each other.
“Success in business is ultimately about what you can do for yourself,” says Bobby Kerr. “You’ve got to be able to say ‘it’s my business and it’s up to me to make a go of it”. You have to be willing to do what it takes to succeed and take full accountability for your own decisions. That means staying positive and avoiding negative people. It also means paying attention to your customers and offering value.”
He also shared his own story. "I told people what we had done to stay in business in Insomnia, and I took them through the story of the seven investments I have made through Dragons' Den. I think this was quite important as businesses tend to share the same challenges. That's why I think the Show Your Business element of Enterprise Week is so good. Just bringing small businesses into the bank branches together is a good idea. Getting a sense of solidarity going between businesses is always good. Also, if businesses facing the same problems are there together they can share solutions and help each other."
Gavin Duffy agrees. “I advised businesses not to be frightened of the current uncertainty. When I addressed one of the Bank of Ireland Enterprise Week events I asked the businesspeople there to support other local businesses. We have a macro-economic problem in Ireland and we have a spending problem as well; people are afraid to spend. If businesses are out there supporting each other that will help generate the confidence we need.”
Duffy also agrees when it comes to the focus on customers. “The most important thing a start-up business needs to do is find customers for its proposed product or service – that’s one of the main pieces of advice I give,” he says.
“If businesses were to put more of an emphasis on finding customers at a very early stage they’d have a much better chance of success. You’d be surprised how many people come to me with the classic back-of-the-envelope calculation such as saying they are going to make Michael Jackson-style gloves and that there are 4 million people in Ireland and if they get 3 per cent of that market, they’ll sell 120,000 gloves. They don’t even try to establish whether anyone would actually be interested in buying one of the gloves or why!”
That said, he is very positive about the climate for start-ups at the moment. “It is a good time for an entrepreneur to start out in business,” he claims. “In a boom, if you have a good idea, it is very easy for others to copy it and get funding to do it. It’s never easy to start up a business, and it is always a risk, but it is probably harder to jump the wall and do your own thing in a boom.”
Sean Gallagher believes that entrepreneurs are now moving beyond the negativity and into what he terms “solution mode”. “I am seeing a quiet revolution out there where thousands of entrepreneurs are starting up successful businesses in the manufacturing and services sectors right throughout the country,” he says. “They have stopped looking at the past and they are focusing on the future. Most entrepreneurs know that hope is not a strategy and they are now doing it for themselves. The revolution has started.”
He agrees with Bank of Ireland that the SME sector will play a major role in the recovery. “The Government is right that the recovery will be export-led and that FDI will play an important role in it, but we need more and more indigenous industry as well. It is Irish entrepreneurs who are going to drive the future growth in the economy. The employment they create and the taxes they generate will underpin the economy in future. Entrepreneurs are heroes and need to be supported in what they are doing. Bank of Ireland is to be congratulated for running National Enterprise Week because this shows that the bank is out there working with entrepreneurs and giving that encouragement.”
