11. {1776} Adam Smith made the point... “It is in the progressive state, while the society is advancing to the further acquisition, rather than when it has acquired its full complement of riches, that the condition of the great body of the people seems to be the happiest and the most comfortable.”
12. “It is hard in the stationary, and miserable in the declining state.”
13. {2005} so did Benjamin Friedman... economic growth seems to make people more tolerant, less prone to violent dispute and keener on democracy. economic decline, on the other hand, is associated with social strife, intolerance and authoritarianism.
20. compared to The Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland lower per-capita GDP Belgium = slower economic growth lower score Global Competitiveness Index (WEF)
29. just do it “Do not wait for someone to recruit you. Create your own job. Start a business....” Guillaume Vanderstighelen, co-founder Duval Guillaume
30. free up the idea “Don’t be secretive about your idea. Ideas need to be free. All ideas will be copied. It’s execution that matters.” Sebastien de Halleux, co-founder & coo Playfish
31. mix things up “That’s what I do on a daily basis. I mix things up and look for new spaces.” Sven Bally, co-founder Colibricard
32. define the value “Finding core value starts with scarcity.” Sacha Vekeman, co-founder Mobiya “A company is not a business; it’s just a legal entity. You decide if it becomes a business or not.” Jeroen Meens, co-founder Cynex
33. do not start alone “Start with the right people; you can’t do it alone” Hans Nissens, ceoOxynade “Management experience is not the same as entrepreneurial experience” James Thompson, director Wharton Societal Wealth Program
34. think big, start small “Too often, people try to build everything at once but end up building nothing.” Brice Le Blévennec, director EMAKINA “It can also be done with limited resources. At least, if one has enough imagination.” Maarten Van Laere, co-founder & ceoServerscheck
35. cash is king “Cash flow, cash flow – manage it hard. Someone who owes you money is running their business on your cash.” Neil Watson, co-founder Digital Planet (South Africa)
39. innovate “Ideas are our raw materials, but even more important are the people who work with these ideas.” Hans Bourlon, joint ceo Studio 100 “If you’re a rebel, you also stir up that bit of rebelliousness in your people” LievenMessiaen, ceo Modular Lighting “It’s in the confrontation that new things emerge” Koen Vanmechelen, artist creator of the Cosmopolitan Chicken Project
40. internationalise “The know-how which we accumulated is being projected on to other countries, adapted to the local legislation” Luc Desender, ceoElectrawinds “It’s time Belgium became the access point to Europe.” Luc Missinne, managing director Porter Novelli Belgium
41. choosegrowthmarkets “You can only grow if there is enough demand for your product” Luc Desender, ceoElectrawinds
42. take the money “If capital is offered take as much as you can... Don’t delay, think big, much bigger.” Peter Grognard, ceoSeptentrio
43. governance “You need to structure yourself, organise yourself, to make sustainable growth possible. Otherwise your company simply cannot outlive you.” Luc De Bruyckere, chairman VOKA and TerBeke
52. tech transfer “The aim is to create one or two spin-offs per year” Ann-Pascale Bijnens, director tech transfer University of Hasselt “We’re focused mainly on creating the right environment for our start-ups. We do this by leveraging not only our faculty, ... but also our network beyond the institute” Pranay Gupta, joint ceo CIIE Ahmedabad India
53. teaching entrepreneurship “Our programme is 50% engineers & scientists from UCL and 50% MBA students from LBS. That’s turning out to be a very powerful course..” Keith Willey, Associate Professor London Business School “Our focus is to improve the international capabilities of our SMEs. .. We do that via our training programmes but we’ve also developed an international network of advisors” Andy Hamilton, ceo The ICEHOUSE Auckland New Zealand
54. entrepreneurial eco-system “The US101 is the life artery of a distinct and vibrant community” Filip Tack, ceoNomadesk BetaGroup attracts 1500 members...
55. schools & culture change “We need a process of cultural change” Luc De Bruyckere, Chairman VOKA & TerBeke “Entrepreneurship is an attitude! You need to be challenged; you need to be hit on the head occasionally!” Vincent Van Quickenborne, Minister for Entrepreneurship & Reform, Belgian Government