Entrepreneurship in Difficult Times

Recently I have given a couple of talks on “Entrepreneurship in Difficult Times” and I am now more convinced that young, enthusiastic entrepreneurs will be the people who will help us to defeat this recession.

Why? Well this recession has not just been caused by the bankers, but by a “state of mind”. Commerce needs confidence, without it we can see what happens to the world’s economy.

Most of the young entrepreneurs that I meet are “brimming over” with confidence. Some observers, those with “half empty glasses”, say that this just leads to disasters. I join those with “half full glasses” and welcome youthful enthusiasm and new ideas, especially in these difficult times.

There are many reasons why a recession (depression?) is a good time to start a new business, see http://bizfinance.about.com/od/startyourownbusiness/a/startup_in_recession.htm
and
http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/03/20/five-reasons-why-recession-good-time-start-company
It also is interesting to note the number of successful businesses that started in recessions, e.g. Disney Corporation (1923), Hewlett- Packard (1938) and Microsoft (1975).

So, help to defeat the recession, support and encourage new businesses that are being started by young people and see what happens.

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Author: Professor Nigel Adams

I am a Professor and the first Director of the Buckingham Enterprise and Innovation Unit in the Vinson Building at the University of Buckingham in England. I teach, advise & mentor undergraduate and post-graduate students, especially medical students, and alumni to become more innovative and enterprising by helping to develop their entrepreneurial mindsets. Between January 2018 and July 2025, the Buckingham Enterprise & Innovation Unit (BEIU) successfully managed the expenditure of about £2 million donated to the University by a successful alumna. We created and developed enterprising and innovative education and other projects in and around the University of Buckingham. As a result of our work, Innovation and Entrepreneurship is one of the university's strategies from 2023 to 2028. (https://www.buckingham.ac.uk/about/strategic-plan) From 2008 until 2019, I ran and developed the world's first undergraduate Venture Creation Programme (VCP - See https://www.vcplist.com for a definition). On the BSc Business Enterprise (BBE) programme, students had to start and run a real business as an integral part of their honours degree. Between 2002 and 2011, I was Managing Director of Nigel Adams & Company Ltd, providing business, management, international marketing, recruitment and other support and advice to the management of Western companies to help them establish business operations in Central & Eastern Europe & to improve their sales. I am an experienced international business adviser with over 50 years of experience in international business, enterprise, management, marketing & counter-trade. I lived in Poland from 1993 until 2002, working on Polish state company restructuring projects as a British Government Know How Fund Management Adviser. I am a lifetime member, Chartered Marketer and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).