The Budget - good, bad or indifferent?

[Michael Palaeologus]

Entrepreneurs create employment, small to medium sized enterprises employ many, many people. Huge employers were started by entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs generate wealth, they invest, they pay the taxes that pay for the public sector, that pay for the NHS, that pay for disability and unemployment benefits.

There are many reasons why people become entrepreneurs, to say that they all do it to make a profit is a huge simplification. Many wish to control their own lives and have psycho-dynamic drivers others have no choice and are pushed into it by economic circumstances.

Then there is the third sector, the social entrepreneurs whose success is measured by a double bottom line i.e. financial health and a positive impact on society or the environment. These are not charities but are companies limited by guarantee that re-invest their surplus in some expression of their corporate social responsibility. As an example the Lexi Cinema in North London runs as a local cinema showing popular films, art films and supports community events, any financial surplus is re-invested in supporting its local community and in supporting an education project in South Africa.

So to paint all entrepreneurs as being grasping, profit mongers not worthy of our support is simply incorrect; however to try and describe entrepreneurs as any form of homogenous grouping is equally incorrect. Its complicated.