Reasons To Be Cheerful 20 October, 2008
Posted by Simon Webber in board, Board Member, Chairman, Chairmen, corporate, Corporate Finance, Corporate Governance, director, downturn, experience, governance, growing companies, growing company, growth, growth company, idsquared, leadership, manchester, nec, NED, NEDs, non-exec, non-execs, non-executive, non-executive director, non-executive director development, non-executive director recruitment, Non-Executive Directors, nxd, private equity, recession, recruitment, register, Simon Webber, small business, small company, unquoted, VC, Venture Capital, Venture Capitalist.trackback
We’re going to take an unfashionably bright outlook in these gloomy times and devote some attention to the positive trends that we’ve noticed in recent months.
Crisis, What Crisis?
The kind of high growth, early stage businesses with which we work are gnerally insulated from the worst of the macro-economic doom that is filling our headlines. These companies have an agility which allows them to respond very rapidly to their customers’ changing needs and many business feel that now is the time to be striking out in new directions; launching products, forging partnerships, or breaking into untapped markets. In order to make these new ventures succeed they need the skills and experiences that a Non-Executive Director can offer.
Credit, What Credit?
Of course, there is no denying that we have seen not only a ‘crunch’ but a complete withering of credit, however banks are not the only funders and we have watched asset-backed lenders, equity investors, and grant-makers filling the gap. Despite our ever-growing inflation we’re also seeing businesses making their own money go much further and the lack of available credit has caused many companies to be more creative with their income streams and less ambitious with their expenditure… often wisely so! It is during this kind of strategic (re)planning that good Non-Executive Directors are worth their weight in gold.
New Ventures
We certainly don’t want to make light of the hardships that some businesses are facing and corporate difficulty can turn into personal tragedy when the effects of recession are felt by the workforce. One positive aspect to this is that we’re expecting to see a flourishing of new ventures. Many people are leaving jobs with the entrepreneurial ambitions that they’ve been fostering for years and one man’s redundancy is another man’s working capital. Some of these ideas will be lifestyle businesses born out of frustration with corporate employment, others will prove to be more ‘whacky’ than ‘winning’, but some will be solid ideas led by enthusiastic entrepreneurs and, if they get the right nurturing and support they will grow to become impressive companies. Where better to get that support than a Non-Executive Director.
Whether a company is just starting out, is launching new initiatives, or is restructuring its business model, we can help them to find the right support at the right level from a Non-Executive Director or Chairman. Do please give us a call, drop us an e-mail or come in for a discussion.
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