Boost for entrepreneurship is silver lining on unemployment cloud

SO FAR this year we have seen over 260 people every day join the live register. That is an extra 10 people every hour, but there is at least one positive aspect. It is going to lead to more people trying to make a living from their own initiative and will boost entrepreneurship.

Hundreds of the extra 95,000 who registered as seeking work over the past 12 months have been exploring possibilities of securing their futures as self-employed service providers. This certainly makes next week's Dublin City Enterprise Week relevant to thousands of more people. Many of the 7,000 who have lost their jobs during each of the past 12 months received a redundancy sum and it may provide some seed capital. The experience of a job-loss can be the final push to make that shift from a traditional comfort zone into the world of working for yourself and, hopefully, employing others within a year or two.

The local authorities, with generous EU finance, have enterprise boards around the country. These are a great source of good advice, encouragement and relevant, low-cost training courses in areas such as seeking business leads, low-cost web trading and keeping track of business finances. Allied to that are business start-up networks.

According to Greg Swift, chief executive of Dublin City Enterprise Board, "entrepreneurship and growing businesses are fast becoming more and more important for Dublin". He adds that the prosperity of all citizens over the next decade will depend on how we face the economic downturn.

A week of seminars, coaching, advice clinics and discussions runs all next week in the capital as part of the city's Enterprise Week with details and brochures available at www.dublincityenterpriseweek.ie.

Small businesses in the capital is the theme of a two-and-a-half hour panel discussion at City Hall, Dame Street, on Wednesday, November 19th, beginning at 1.30pm. Later that evening the city enterprise board's Link! start-up business network will have a seminar on the opportunities presented by economic change. The "Capitalise on Change" evening is a crash course in how individuals can react to changed circumstances. There is no attendance charge but advance booking is advisable.

The response to unemployment and redundancy is a lot more sophisticated now than in the 1980s. No longer is buying a single taxi plate or starting a dodgy pyramid scheme regarded as cutting-edge entrepreneurship. The development of information technology, allied to mobile communications and a better-educated workforce, has boosted the potential to launch a business and dramatically reduced costs.

Having a personal business plan is a good form of insurance for many employees. If a voluntary redundancy scheme is introduced the person who has explored the possibility of starting a business and is aware of the enterprise supports. Collecting a redundancy cheque on a Friday and looking to rent an office the following Monday can be a great place to be.

For those in employment it could well be worth taking a half-day's leave to attend some of next week's 20 events. Topics covered range from how to source quality and good-value products from China, to registering a business name, to dressing for success and assessing a franchise opportunity.

It is all a long way from investing in a ladder and bucket to start a window-cleaning service which was what often passed for entrepreneurship in decades past.

Gerald Flynn is an employment specialist with Align Management Solutions gflynn@alignmanagement.net