Locate Jersey has also been instrumental in bringing inward investment to the island. This needs to be combined with policies to support new enterprise, by removing some of the disincentives that can, usually unintentionally, act as a barrier to entrepreneurialism. Political courage and consensus building will be important to create the right environment for the private sector to thrive – creating jobs, generating tax receipts and fostering a creative organisational culture in Jersey. Getting this right creates a virtuous cycle in which success breeds success and ideas cross-pollinate between companies and even sectors.
Promoting entrepreneurial vigour need not necessarily mean the establishment of new enterprises. Existing businesses can thrive by promoting such a culture from within, by implementing creative compensation structures and offering genuine ownership. At Affinity, all staff are shareholders and treated as such – they are updated about operational performance and encouraged to come forward with ideas about how to develop the business. An element of staff remuneration is also invested alongside clients in our own investment strategies – we refer to this as ‘eating your own cooking’! The resulting alignment of interests between business founders, their staff and the clients they serve can make the difference between an
average organisation and one that stands out from the crowd.
One major implication of the financial crisis was the significant reduction in available bank credit – most notably to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), which is obviously relevant to many who wish to start up on their own. Fortunately, alternative sources of finance such as peer-to-peer (P2P) lending and crowdfunding have emerged to help bridge the gap. These new funding sources not only can support new and developing enterprises, but also promote an emerging business line for Jersey given its stable legal system and mature professional infrastructure.
I wouldn’t be credible as an investment advisor if I didn’t espouse the virtues of diversification. This must be a feature for Jersey’s economic development too. Retaining a healthy finance sector need not – indeed must not – come at the expense of other areas of development. Jersey needs to create a framework for other relevant sectors to emerge. A highly topical example is in the technology space where Digital Jersey is doing great work.
In the connected world, many commercial activities no longer require people to be based in urban centres. Forgive the obvious example but computer programming does not need to be performed in mainland cities. Programmers can choose to be located in a place of their choosing, as long as there is a good internet connection – something being addressed through the roll-out of fibre broadband across the island. For some, Jersey could be the place for them, especially if they have roots here. By encouraging these skills to flourish locally, there are many ways in which we can all benefit – from driving efficiencies in the public sector to providing support for private enterprise.
More widely, technological developments are enabling greater localisation in a globally connected world. For example, innovations in ‘3D printing’ could allow many items such as car parts to be manufactured here rather than being imported. This has the potential to revolutionise how responsive business can be to local demand. In power generation, imagine a world in which the ‘sunniest place in the British Isles’ can generate a meaningful portion of its own power and thus reduce its dependence on external supply and the vagaries of international prices. These developments are already here from a technological perspective, so fundamental change is closer than you might think. Households and businesses are already installing solar capacity and this trend is expected to continue.
What of the more traditional sectors? Tourism will clearly remain a focus but the world of travel has changed. Investments into spa hotels by the likes of Julia and Guy Hands’ Handpicked Hotels group points to a modernisation of the approach locally,
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