Waterford is one of the worst counties for business startups.

mad man

http://www.pressreleaseireland.com/2007/01/11/new-business-start-ups-increased-by-11-in-2006/


I think this is alarming and in my opinion is not a co-incidence that we have the worst "serial objector in the country" as well.

Developers like KRM have the financial muscle to put up with planning delays.It is different altogether for a small business.

Dublin,Cork,Limerick and Galway are the top four as expected.Waterford should be five but we don't even get a look in the first 15.

I've been trying to think of a reason for this like a lack of infrastructure and poor government fuding in grants etc or lack of University.However it can't be any of these as there are places similar to Waterford regarding nfrastructure and funding and which are way ahead of us.They also have no third level instutions i.e Wexford and Donegal.

trishw78

Am I suffering Deja vu or has there already been a thread like this

JohnC.

Possibly. The article will be 1 year old tomorrow.

Nolanger

Maybe it's because most people from that city with the potential to start their own business leave?

mad man

This article is a year old but that is an article that I found while searching for a similar article that had been published in the Indo a few weeks ago.This years survey has produced almost identical results.

I think the point is Waterford should be at least on the list which it isn't.We are either completely lacking initiative as a county/city or is there some other obstacle?

Have we some collecective mindset whereby we believe the only means of employment is working in a factory,the public service or some other "traditional" employer?Or are we a city/county of begrudgers who resent people who show such initiative and therefore drive them out to places where they don't have to suffer this?I've seen this happen but I don't want to believe this is the reason.

Is it because there is an oligarchy of existing business in the city that curtails competion to the status quo?

Or is the amount of objection to development in Waterford causing a knock on effect to small business startups?

Whatever the reason we need to find out.Because you can have all the infrastructure in the world if you cannot utilise it then you may as well not have it.

mad man

Nolanger wrote: »

Maybe it's because most people from that city with the potential to start their own business leave?

It's interesting that you should say this.Why do you think this might be the case?

fricatus

mad man wrote: »

It's interesting that you should say this.Why do you think this might be the case?

I can't speak for Nolanger (great name!), but when I was growing up in Waterford in the late '80s and early '90s, anyone with any ambition who wasn't leaving the country altogether left for Dublin or Cork. Those who weren't leaving all appeared to be setting themselves up for working the rest of their lives in a factory.

One of the cruellest things I ever heard a friend (a Waterford native) say was that it was basically a factory town. Ask yourself though, is he wrong? I know I'm going to offend some people by saying this, but in factories there tends to exist this sort of us-against-them enforced solidarity, and dare you step out of line! Not exactly an atmosphere that fosters an entrepreneurial culture.

Something to think about I suppose...

mad man

Good Post Frictatus

I think we still have the factory town mentality and that is the problem. I also think that there are too many people who swallow trendy "socialist" politics that follows the line capitalism and money=bad and everything about the worker is noble and he can do no wrong.

I'm wondering are people "expecting" the government to provide and then when they don't sit back and resent the government because it is the easy thing to do rather than do something about it themselves.

I saw a post on Up the Déise stating something to the effect that Ireland is getting "to greedy" and too much like "America". I wonder how many of the people who take this line have actually been to America. I have been there twice.Once to New York and Once to California. The people there who work in sevices (private and public) are light years ahead of the Irish as far as politeness and manners are concerned.I was in Clinton (Hell's Kitchen) in New York which is still a tough area and was treated with nothing but courtesy and friendliness by people. I remember talking to a guy who stood out in the street all day with an advertising sign for a resteraunt.A job many people here would be too proud to do. Yet he was happy with his lot and turned down a tip I offered him for helping me with directions.

Socialism is a noble concept in my opinion but like every other concept it doesn't do as it should in practice.I think in Europe socialism has led to the "Nanny" state and too many people thinking that life "owes them a living". In my view it has taken away the idea of personal responsibility.In Waterford we still have that residue of "hard left" politics. This is sometimes referred to in the national media or by public figures and puts us in an unflattering light.


We have WCTU objecting to a shopping centre that will provide hundreds of permanent jobs under a flag of sustainabe development.Yet in the Inner City Development plan 2008-2010 practically every public and volunteer group in the city has made a contribution.Yet WCTU have not. They provide nothing other than protest in our city. Any protest they do organise depends on organising it on a work day to attract support further putting anyone off investing here.There's an "dirty secret" in Waterford that weekend protesting does not attract support.

I think there is a bit of a begrudging mentality that fuels this also. I've seen a bit too much schadenfreude in Waterford and it is usually associated with the socialist activists inho.

Minfadlek

There was a time when I would have put Waterford in 3rd place after Dublin & Cork. Think we're going backwards rather than forwards :rolleyes: .