Looking Ahead

– The Road to Recovery

WORDS: Derek Owens

Recessions don’t simply blow themselves out: hard work, tough decisions and good ideas are all key to seeing a business — and a nation — through challenging economic times. For many faced with difficult business conditions, it’s tempting to give up. However, it’s the optimists and innovators in business that will continue to succeed, riding through the storm and emerging all the tougher at the other side. “You could put your head under the duvet and not get up in the morning, but I’m not one of those people,” says Aileen O’Toole, a Founder of the Sunday Business Post and currently Managing Director of online consultancy firm AMAS. “Having been in traditional media and shovelling out negative stories for years, I’m now in a different world. I work with a lot of high potential companies — software companies, biosciences, companies that are going to be the next wave of economic activity. In one sense, I’ve picked up on their optimism,” she adds.

Indeed, as early as January — when consumers were shell-shocked and there was no sniff of a recovery abroad — Aileen was prepared to appear on RTÉ’s Prime Time to argue that Ireland’s economic glass was half full. The response to that appearance led Aileen and AMAS to launch the Ideas Campaign in March, inviting the general public to contribute ideas that could lead to recovery. With company funds, a small philanthropic grant, expertise provided for free from leading accountancy firms and an advisory board with some heavyweights of Irish business, the Ideas Campaign distilled over 5,000 public submissions into a comprehensive action plan that was presented to the Government earlier this year.

Of the 44 specific proposals for the public sector in the action plan drafted by the Ideas Campaign, 17 have since been endorsed and adopted by the Government.

From a new Volunteer Corps that will engage unemployed people in community and voluntary work to a one-stop virtual helpdesk offering advice on legal and accountancy issues for start-ups, the Government has committed to supporting a dramatic range of measures. Both Aileen and her AMAS colleagues have signed off the project, having played their part. “It was the guts of two months where I pretty much did nothing else, put the business to one side and focused on this completely,” she says, adding that the need to return to running her own business was a “harsh reality”.

Leading Disability Campaigner Dr. Angela Kerins has seen plenty of harsh reality herself since the recession hit. Currently serving as Chair of the Equality Authority, Angela had to deal with the resignation of her Chief Executive Niall Crowley in protest at cuts to the Authority’s budget at the end of 2008. Together with other members of the board, Angela publicly reiterated the Authority’s determination to work effectively and independently to eliminate discrimination in Ireland. Angela, who is also Chief Executive of the Rehab Group, is still committed to that today. “We must protect the most vulnerable in society, and we must also reward efficiency, can-do attitudes and innovations,” she asserts. She’s also quick to praise the work of the Ideas Campaign, and particularly endorses its proposals to encourage more voluntarism. “I was very interested to see the list of ideas, and volunteering being in there,” she notes. “Not only is volunteering a good thing to do — it recaptures the spirit of our community — but I also think it can build capacity amongst our people, developing their skills and experiences, and also support the areas and services that they’re volunteering in.”