As Global Entrepreneurship Week (www.gew.org.uk) looms ahead of us, the country seems more gripped than ever by the idea of how important entrepreneurs are to recovery. The government is clearly placing huge emphasis on growing businesses. Its foreign policy has effectively become an overseas trade policy, with the role of ambassadors increasingly becoming trade ambassadors as much as diplomatic. Although a business-led foreign policy can lead to some awkward diplomatic moments—and the only thing really new here is how overt the approach is—it's not necessarily a bad thing, particularly at a time when recovery depends on us selling the stuff we do and make here, overseas.
For this reason it was no surprise to see fashion entrepreneurs Tamara Mellon and Anya Hindmarch offered roles as UK trade ambassadors. Quite what this role entails isn't very clear, but that lack of structure and formality will probably appeal to entrepreneurs. And both have excellent track records in promoting and growing brands, so why shouldn't they be able to do the same for brand Britain?
There have been some concerns raised about an over-emphasis on fashion, but we may as well sing about our success stories, and the fashion industry has long been one of this country's great success stories. Indeed, luxury leather goods with a "Made in Britain" stamp are currently selling for a premium in the Far East. So let's milk it. The clean-tech sector is another brilliant UK success. But as important as it is, it's also a lot less glamorous. So Tamara and Anya will naturally grab the headlines. Of course we need many different initiatives across as many sectors as possible, from luxury goods to electric cars to higher education. And the government is certainly keen to do what it can to help.
Just how much emphasis the coalition is placing on supporting business was witnessed earlier in the week at the National Business Awards. As the great and good of British business—or at least those that hadn't joined the Prime Minister in China—turned out to celebrate the awards in association with Orange, both Cameron (via a video message) and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg (in person) addressed the room. The central themes from both were "business is essential to growth and the recovery" and "we'll do all we can to help you succeed". Hardly new ideas, but well appreciated by the audience nonetheless.
Exactly what success means seemed to be on the mind of Tesco's CEO Sir Terry Leahy. Having won the Director Lifetime Achievement Award at the recent IoD Awards Sir Terry was honoured again, this time picking up the Daily Telegraph Award for a Decade of Excellence in Business. He joked that on its first day, Tesco had a turnover of four pounds. "Of that four pounds, one pound was profit," he said, adding the punchline, "so the margins then were much better than they are today".
Dyson's chief executive Martin McCourt was named the Orange Leader of the Year. He also had an unusual take on the firm's success. Rather than factors such as design and innovation for which his business is usually lauded, McCourt said his time at Dyson had been all about having fun. And he suggested that rather than one award there should be 1,700 awards so that each member of staff could get their share of the recognition.
Whoever gets the eventual recognition, it's vital that everyone does all they can to raise the profile of British success stories, here and especially overseas. That means cheer-leading roles for two of our most successful fashion entrepreneurs, it means a spell of overt business-oriented diplomacy and it means more government support than ever for entrepreneurs. Now is as good time as any to start.