Mike Harris's Blog

There is no doubt that the economic news all over the world is filled with doom and gloom right now. No one knows the length and depth of the recession but at least governments worldwide are taking what seems to me to be sensible action by protecting the financial system (sine qua nihil) and providing fiscal and monetary support to the economy. In fact they are providing so much support I wouldn't be surprised by a faster recovery than most are anticipating with real dangers of a bit of a boom and bust cycle creeping back in. But in the short term I sense there is a lot worse to come before it starts to improve. That doesn't mean there aren't oppotunities around though and it's important to stay positive and keep a little bit of sunshine in your life.

I escaped from the doom for a bit by spending a couple of weeks in the Seychelles - it's hard to be gloomy there and since I got back I've been really pleased by a couple of things which have kept me feeling extremely sunny.

. Firstly Garlik (of which I'm Chairman) has won the prestigious BT award for innovation- an extract from the press release below will show you why I'm so pleased with that: (the picture shows CEO Tom Ilube and Ops director Paula Evans with the awards)

I was also involved in the launch of Federation100 in November - this is a collection of start ups and small and medium businesses who are supported in a group with intensive coaching from Anurag Gupta, Mynoo Blackbyrn and a little bit of help from me with the aim of skyrocketing their performance, even in a recession. The membership is growing rapidly (as you can see from the photos) to our initial target of 15 companies and I think those involved in the first sessions could immediately appreciate the power of what was on offer. I'm really pleased this has got going and I have great hopes that it can help make the UK a great environment for entrepreneurs and innovators.