We were honoured to have as our speaker, via Zoom, Sir Paul Collier, Sheffield-born Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Oxford University, an honorary doctor at Sheffield University, member of The British Academy and much more. Sir Paul is an advisor to governments around the world and a prolific writer, not only of educational papers but also at least ten books on economics and economic policies and their effect on societies.
Sir Paul commenced with a potted history of his early life, having been born in Sheffield where his parents ran a butcher’s shop in Parson Cross. Both his parents left school at the age of 12 with minimal education. Paul attended Fulwood Church School and still remembers his daily walks up and down Slayleigh Lane on the way to and from his lessons. As a bright pupil, Paul moved on to King Edward VII School where he again excelled and (much against the wishes of his headmaster who suggested he should go to Nottingham University), obtained a place at Oxford where he continues today teaching, and at The Blavatnik School of Government. Sir Paul has also had stints at Harvard and in Paris, to mention just a few of his educational achievements.
Sir Paul is a supporter of capitalism, but is critical of the benefits and management of its policies being centralised, as in the case of, for example, Russia, China and other closely managed economies. He is also critical of the government in the UK, where policies are to a large extent decided within the South East, a region which reaps the rewards with monies while clearly thought-out policies are concentrated in a small geographical area to the detriment of the rest of the UK and its businesses. Whilst there have been some successes in the regions, Sir Paul suggested that many schemes were too small in area and vision for the future, and referred particularly the Advanced Manufacturing Park in Sheffield which, although a great success, is too small with state of the art manufacturing companies wanting to expand and now considering relocating as there is no scope for enlarging premises within the park. Sir Paul suggested that much of this was due to the expansion of low wage, partially unskilled jobs in the land-hungry and ever-expanding warehouse and distribution sector.
Prof Collier went on to say that it was critical for the benefit of the regions to adopt longer-term strategic plans involving government, both national and local, universities and of course business if entrepreneurship is to prosper outside of the South East. As an aside Paul revealed that 50 per cent of venture capital funding went to industry and business in this region. Sir Paul and colleagues are currently trying to encourage risk taking businesses – local, national and international – and to this end has linked up with Larry Sullivan a multi-millionaire offering money of up to £500,000 to help establish new and upcoming companies who cannot access the usual finance facilities.
This was, he said, was a bit like Dragon’s Den. Paul gave as an example a company set up five years ago by two young entrepreneurs which now has a market value of around £15 million, with potential for further growth. Sir Paul concluded his talk with a call to members to think if they could help by offering mentoring to young businesses who have the ideas but possibly not the experience that Probus members have, given their length of time in business prior to retirement. It was an excellent talk from a world renowned and respected economist, who gave up his valuable time to give us a presentation that was educational, informative and well received by another large audience.
The picture of Prof Sir Paul Collier is copyright of the World Economic Forum.