Opinion
If the Government wants us to be more entrepreneurial, maybe they should start by looking at their own back yard!
The government wanting us to be more entrepreneurial is a great idea - entrepreneurs represent the engine of our economy. But where should government be looking? The answer is: The Public Sector.
I
lead an interesting business life -
I run POD Point - a
rapidly growing entrepreneurial company developing electric
vehicle charging points. Through this business we have had great success selling our products and technologies to customers in both the public and private sectors and in doing so, I get a unique view of how the public sector differs from entrepreneurial life in the private sector. And it is all about change.
It is one of the founding principles of entrepreneurs that you must like change - why would someone set up their own venture if they didn’t see something which they felt they could refine? Progression is the underlying requirement of new business. Business thrives on it.. Never is a business plan thought up and executed leading to the exact results the entrepreneur predicted - the world doesn’t work like that. What happens, is that an entrepreneur starts to execute an idea, and constantly alters those plans to allow him or her to meet the business objectives. It is inherent if you want to win in business.
Now let us turn our attention to the public sector, and specifically an area I know particularly well - the electric vehicle market. The government has set
itself some
bold targets to encourage the adoption of Electric Vehicles - a £5k
subsidy on new electric cars, and Plugged in Places - an initiative to
help install electric vehicle
charging points throughout the country. Both great ideas, and required if we are to move away from our reliance on fossil fuels and address our carbon footprint. But these initiatives are falling well behind plan. We’re not buying Electric Vehicles fast enough, and there are not enough charging points being installed. However, this isn’t a disaster - the project just need a bit of change. To anyone in business it would be obvious - we’re not meeting targets, so we have to rethink our strategy.
What can we do? - Well many things - if a 50% subsidy on charge points isn’t working, why not try 100% subsidy on half as many, if a £5k vehicle subsidy is not working, why not make it £4k and spend the remainder enabling EV drivers to use bus lanes, and park for free in town centres? Or how about using the subsidy money to guarantee second hand car values instead of an upfront discount (giving new car buyers more peace of mind amidst
expensive battery replacement
scares). Would this get us back on track? I don’t know for sure, but if the current plan is not getting us where we need to be, then we have to advance, reassess, and continue to make adjustments. How else can we succeed?
This is the fundamental approach taken by entrepreneurs to build successful business, and we need to encourage it in the public sector. How? Well we, the public have to understand that
the
future is unknown, and we can’t predict it right every time but we have to encourage revision within the public sector, and in parallel with that, accept that sometimes modification make things worse. However,
if we subscribe to
change when an error is made, we will have empowered our government to make another change, and make things better.
Erik Fairbairn, CEO of POD Point.
18 entrepreneurcountry
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