Dr Michael Smurfit had some words of wisdom for those further down the corporate ladder when he launched the Entrepreneur of the Year Awards on Tuesday.

Embracing the possibility of failure is as much a part of the entrepreneurial spirit as facing the prospect of reward for success, the chairman of the Jefferson Smurfit Group advised.

But it seems his philosophy is based on his experiences in the equine industry as much as on his business endeavours. Risk by its definition encountered failure, he said, but the wringing of hands achieved little. "Buy a racehorse and you know what failure is very quickly," he noted. #