Entrepreneurship - An idea for our time

WE are all familiar with the story of the writer who, because he has told this story so often to his drinking friends, never gets to finish the great Irish novel. His idea is lost and his talent wasted because he cannot make his vision real.

It’s just possible that the same kind of trap awaits some of those with great business ideas. The appointment, by the Cork Institute of Technology, of an entrepreneur in residence is a wonderfully innovative idea and may just be the nudge young, budding business people need to turn ideas into a business.

Some people are very lucky to have worked with individuals who were inspiring and demanding mentors. Would Michael O’Leary or Denis O’Brien have become the forces they are without the influence of the late Tony Ryan? It seems unlikely.