Capt Mike Edgeworth, Chairman and chief executive, Pilot Training College
What is the most unique thing about your business?
Before, almost 100 per cent of our business was from individual self-funded students. Four years ago, we took the decision to focus on international airline contracts. Now 80 per cent of our business comes from that. Cadets from around the world enrol with us in Waterford for English language aviation training, then go to our operation in Florida for visual training and come back to us to experience typical western European weather conditions.
What was the best piece of business advice you’ve ever received?
Stick to the knitting, focus on what you’re good at. It was from Albert Reynolds.
What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made in business?
In another business, I was looking for capital and I signed up with a group of venture capitalists – or vulture capitalists. They had no interest in the business. All they wanted was to extract as much as they could out of it in the shortest possible time and disappear.
And your major success to date?
Our decision to diversify away from the domestic market and to focus on airline contracts was absolutely the right decision. It was becoming apparent that the economy was going into freefall – as a company relying on individuals being able to go to the bank and get the money to pay for their training, we would be left very exposed. If 50 per cent of the students we had at the time were unable to raise the money, the effect on the business would have been catastrophic. We’ve now won a deal with Gulf Aviation Academy to train 150 cadets over two years. The contract is worth €12 million.
Who do you most admire in business?
I have great admiration Denis O’Brien – his recognition of a unique business opportunity and how he developed it worldwide. Internationally, it would be Warren Buffet. He started off as a paper delivery guy. He took simple but effective business models and invested in them with great success.
Are the banks in Ireland open for business to SMEs?
Our own experience has been okay. If you’ve got a very strong and robust business model, the banks will fund it, but they are ultra cautious.
What advice would you give to the Government to stimulate the economy?
Reduce the cost of doing business by reducing the taxation needed to pay for the public service. Administer regulation in a fairer way so that it’s not punitive for some businesses and soft touch for others. Form an executive board to run the country, allow it to develop and implement a 10-year plan, without political interference. Give people incentives to work rather than to remain on social welfare. Maximise our indigenous resources, such as food production and tourism.
What’s been the biggest challenge you have had to face?
To persuade people that entrepreneurial ideas are a valid part of the economy. In the past, it was almost a criminal offence in this country to be an entrepreneur. With the State institutions promoting job creation and incentives for business, if you weren’t a large multinational, forget it. That has changed in recent years, but my experience is that the first reaction you tend to get when you come a long with an innovative idea for your business is “hold on, don’t go there, what you’re doing at the moment is great, keep it that way”, – but in the business world, if you don’t evolve, you get left behind.
What’s your business worth and would you sell it?
Any business is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it. It’s not the right time for us to sell now, but it may come about in future. Every entrepreneur will have an exit strategy – ours would be either a trade sale to allow it to grow further or an IPO.
In conversation with
JOANNE HUNT