Only entrepreneurs can save the UK

On 21 October, there was a great letter in the FT from Martin Bodenham, the chief executive of Advantage Capital. He imagined a plc with revenues of £500 million and costs of £700 million, and with debts of £700 million predicted to rise beyond £1,000 million over the next three years – and asked whether “any sane investor” would put their money into such a company.

That company, of course, is the UK – only with figures in billions rather than millions. It’s a mess, says Bodenham, that won’t be fixed by cutting government spending, or by drastically increasing taxes for the middle classes or the super-rich.

The only solution is entrepreneurship – or, in Bodenham’s words, “an explosion of entrepreneurial activity of early industrialisation proportions”.

He is bang on the money. The recession brings opportunities, but only the most talented business leaders will see them, take them and change the world.

That’s part of the reason I’m getting involved with RAW 2010 – an initiative that will change the face of business.

If you’ve ever seen two entrepreneurs in the same room together, you’ll know what I mean when I say the atmosphere is charged with electricity.

The way they discuss ideas, the way they spark off each other, the way they identify synergies and opportunities – there is nothing more exciting to experience or more inspiring to witness.

Increase that number to 350, and you have a community with the power to change the economy – in the region, in the country, in the world. The North West led the way in the industrial revolution, and it will lead the way in the transformation of business following the worst recession we have seen since the 1930s.

It all starts on 20.01.10. The top 350 entrepreneurs in the region will gather with 15 of the world’s best speakers to listen, learn, collaborate and move the region forward. No professional advisers, no hidden agendas, no stale topics and no tired opinions.

But it doesn’t end there. RAW will become a movement that will expand networks and minds for even the best entrepreneurs in our region, with a powerful online community continuing to set the agenda for business.

Many of the elite group of 350 entrepreneurs will be from the Institute of Directors. However, I’d like to offer five additional places to any readers who feel that they would benefit from being part of the RAW community. Email me your contact details, together with why you qualify to be one of the people who will change businesses, change economies, change lives – change everything.

To apply for a place, visit www.raw2010.com and tell us why you should be there.

RAW 2010

When two entrepreneurs find themselves in the same room together, the atmosphere is charged with electricity.

The way they discuss ideas, the way they spark off each other, the way they identify synergies and opportunities – there is nothing more exciting to experience or more inspiring to witness.

Increase that number to 350, and you have a community with the power to change the economy – in the region, in the country, in the world. That’s why RAW is completely stripped back. Strictly invitation only, with no professional advisers, no hidden agenda, no selling – a pure environment for explosive innovation and groundbreaking collaboration.

Peter Drucker, one of the world’s most influential business thinkers, once said that entrepreneurs are people who “upset and disorganise”. RAW, too, will upset and disorganise on a scale that has never been seen before – upsetting tired, stale ideas; throwing “established opinion” into disarray; making radical changes in the pursuit of excellence.

Now is the time to forget what you know about business. Now is the time for RAW.