Success story in the Baltics

Six years ago Pat Collier decided to leave Macra na Feirme to strike out on his own as a management consultant. He had no idea what the future would hold and whether or not there would be enough demand for the services of someone skilled in economic and social research and development.

The offer of a six-month research project from UCD was the bridge which allowed him to make the break. On the one hand he was working for himself, but on the other it was guaranteed work for a fixed period which would give him time to shake the trees for business.

Collier comes from a farming background and he had studied agricultural economics at UCD. He graduated with a master's degree in 1982 and worked first as an agricultural policy officer with the Agricultural Institute before moving to Macra na Feirme as manager of a rural enterprise development unit. Between 1989 and 1992 he managed the ESB's community enterprise awards scheme which provided development funding to local and community groups around the State.

Having made the decision to become self-employed, Collier says it took him about two years to feel comfortable with his new status. "I still applied for jobs because I wasn't certain I'd done the right thing," he says. "It would have helped if I had been a bit more confident in myself about what I was doing and it took a while for my self-confidence to build up."

Initially all of Collier's work was in Ireland, but about two years ago he began to look further afield for business. He was particularly interested in getting involved with countries which were looking towards the possibility of EU membership. He has since begun working in both Latvia and Estonia where he says there are close parallels with Ireland.

"Latvia and Estonia are going through many of the same processes Ireland did 20 years ago, producing national plans for rural development and agriculture," Collier says. "This is familiar ground for me, albeit in a very different context. Both the Latvians and the Estonians are very pleasant, very professional people to work with and the work itself is very interesting. For the last 18 months or so I have been working on funding plans to be submitted to the EU.

"What strikes one most the first time you go there is the age of the people you're working with - they are all very young - and they look to you for support and advice because they don't have mentors or older people with business experience to turn to. Having come from a centralised economy they are now faced with planning for themselves and making their own decisions. In reality they are building everything - their economies, policies and systems - from the ground up."

The key resource which has enabled Collier to work in the Baltics while still living in Dublin is technology. His chief method of communication with his clients is email backed up by fax and phone. He still travels to see his clients, but he says that once the business relationship is well established there is less need for personal contact.

"Latvia and Estonia are difficult places to get to in the sense that it takes a long time and you're often hanging around waiting for connections. But as places to visit they are very nice with wonderful old buildings in the city centres. The cost of living is about 60 per cent of what it is here and they have superb restaurants with excellent food and exceptional service which would leave places in Temple Bar for dead," he says.

Collier is married with two young children and he has opted to work from home. His wife, Helena, is a senior manager with Eircom and Collier says that by being home-based he can act as the "anchor" parent which helps take some of the pressure off his wife who has to commute to her job.

"I think our quality of life as a family is better because I'm at home," he says. "It means we don't have to get the kids up at crazy hours so that we can get to work and they can be dropped to their minder on the way. Helena can go when she's ready, I can look after the kids and I'm still at my desk by 9.15 a.m. Helena usually collects the children but if she's delayed then I can do it. I have dinner ready when they get home and during the day if I come down for lunch or to make a cup of coffee I can hang clothes out or do whatever is needed to keep the domestic side of things on the rails."

The downside of being a self-employed consultant is that there is no regular cheque at the end of each month. Initially Collier found this quite scary and like many newly self-employed people he found himself saying `yes' to every job that came his way. "Working for yourself does affect cash flow, you could end up with nothing coming in for a few months and we are lucky that one of us has a regular income," he says. "But as you become more confident and the assignments are coming in you relax a bit and then you'll say `no' to a job if you can't realistically fit it in.

"What I particularly like about my work is the variety. I am continually dealing with different groups of people and over the years I've had a wide breath of experience in economic and social research and development planning. With business opportunities opening up for me abroad I know I could source more work there if I wanted to. But I've made a decision to work as much as I can within Ireland because of my family. Our children are just four and two at the moment. That may change as they get older but for the moment it's the best solution."

In 1990 Collier decided to top-up his specialist skills with a general management qualification. He enrolled on the MBA programme with the Open University and completed it in 1994. Despite the demands of trying to work and study simultaneously Collier believes it was worth the effort.

"I come from a home where education is prized and perhaps as a result I am a strong believer in the need for self development and keeping pace with what's happening around me," Collier says. "I wanted a degree which would bring me from the specific to the general and the MBA fulfilled this need very well. It was an excellent course. The teaching and course material were first class and I have found the qualification of tremendous practical use." Contact Point: Pat Collier can be contacted at (01) 839 3114.