Shell LiveWire “Young Entrepreneur of the Year” Award Address by Minister Micheál Martin

Shell LiveWire “Young Entrepreneur of the Year” Award Address by Mr Micheál Martin TD, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin, 1 December 2005

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure and honour for me to speak at the ‘Young Entrepreneur of the Year’ Awards. This is one of the most prestigious events in the annual calendar of enterprise award ceremonies and I am particularly pleased to support an event that is organised on an all-Ireland basis. I am very grateful to Shell Livewire for their invitation to me to do so.

Events like tonight’s are fitting occasions for celebration and pride. Our primary task tonight is to celebrate, and showcase, the depth and breath of the young entrepreneurial talent that is flourishing within the island of Ireland at the present time. However, it is also important that we publicly recognise and endorse the unique and important role being played by Shell Livewire in their support for entrepreneurial endeavour by our young enterprising-minded who aspire to creativity and success in the world of business.

It is so heartening to see the excellent quality and obvious growth potential of the business ideas represented in the Award exhibits on parade here this evening. The diverse range of high calibre projects speaks well for the inventiveness of our younger people and for their capability to embrace innovation.

The great success of the Irish economy in recent times has brought benefits that were unimaginable a decade or so ago. In an increasingly competitive world, the Irish economy has managed to compete remarkably strongly in the global marketplace. However, the growing complexity and ever-onward globalisation of business and manufacturing, are constantly presenting us with new competitive challenges to which we must respond. In this regard a strong entrepreneurial culture is increasingly being recognised as one of the key drivers of our economy. It forms a vital part of the Government’s vision and policies for continued economic growth and expanded wealth production. I know that this is also a policy priority in Northern Ireland.

In this increasingly competitive environment, we need to foster the emergence of new indigenous businesses

that have the potential to achieve significant growth,

that are highly innovative,

that are embracing or developing new technologies,

that are export driven

and, above all else, that are productive and sustainable.

The outlook for Ireland, I am glad to say, is quite encouraging. A recent GEM report shows Ireland to be one of the most entrepreneurially active economies of the EU. We now have about a quarter of a million adults here actively engaged in enterprise. While the GEM report shows a somewhat less positive picture for Northern Ireland, I know that the enterprise agencies in Northern Ireland are actively trying to promote and develop a strong entrepreneurship culture in that part of the island also.

High profile award events like tonight’s are hugely influential

in fuelling the creative entrepreneurial urge,

in inspiring others to emulate the achievements of those whose enterprising dreams have been successful,

in raising public awareness of the need for continuous idea-generation and commitment to creative effort; and

in demonstrating the high, but attainable, standards which successful performance and high achievement demand.

Be assured that Government policy is firmly directed at creating an operating climate that is good for business, that encourages the emergence of new business creations and that facilitates long-term business survivability. I know that this objective is shared by the Northern economy too and is operationally supported through the programmes, services and financial incentives available from the various development agencies both in the North and here in the South.

Small business is big business in an economy like Ireland’s where the make-up of our corporate population is overwhelmingly in the small enterprise bracket. The two administrations on the island are alive to this reality and to the contribution which the small enterprise sector can – and does – make to wealth and employment creation. For this reason, therefore, active cross-border economic co-operation in fields of mutual interest makes good sense. There are some fine examples of this kind of co-operation such as the Micro-Trade Programme. This programme offers small business various routes into cross-border markets through partnerships between undertakings engaging in joint development projects. Another example is the Trade-Links Programme which supports micro-businesses in the Border Corridor Region through networks to assist their greater participation in two-way North/South trade.

In their various ways – sometimes individually and sometimes in collaboration with one another – the CEBs, the LEAs, Invest Northern Ireland, InterTradeIreland and Shell LiveWire are all offering significant help in reducing the many obstacles which still hinder exploitation of the full potential for North/South trade and business exchanges.

I am delighted that my Department and the CEBs have been able to support this event and I would also like to thank Invest Northern Ireland, TV3 and Shell for their support for the event. We must also pay tribute to the judges for the time and effort which they have generously made in selecting the different category winners. Their task has indeed been an unenviable one.

I would also like to pay tribute to the superb organisational effort which Shell LiveWire have put into staging this grand final showpiece to-night and for what I know will be, for you all, a wonderful evening of celebration.

But tonight is about the finalists, the young entrepreneurs, whose efforts we are here to applaud. I would like to conclude by extending my warmest congratulations to each of you.

You are all already winners in the widest sense of the term, having proved the inherent strength and worth of your projects against the exacting criteria employed to select the winning entries. The key features of business success are clearly evident in your projects - quality design, financial robustness, propensity to innovate, capacity for market success, potential for sustainability. I would like to wish you every success tonight. But more importantly, I wish you every success with your projects over the coming years.

Have a good evening everybody.

ENDS

ETE 1468