Branson on Business: The economy

Politically Incorrect Guide To Politics

 

Let’s talk a little bit about this economy we find ourselves in. In the US and in various parts of the world certainly there is a whole new perspective on discretionary spending, a whole new perspective on the availability of funding.  And one of the one things that you’ve talked about is it’s the responsibility of entrepreneurs and business owners who really are at least half of most economies, to pull us out of this situation that we’re in.  So tell us a little bit about how does one actually do that?

 

Well I think big companies are going to retrench and there’s going to be a lot of people laid off from big companies.  And therefore – and a lot of those people who are laid off can be the entrepreneurs of the future and I think will become the entrepreneurs of the future.  They’re are also going to be a lot of small companies out there who have still got reasonably good cash flow and they even have got some lines of credit.  And I think those kinds of companies, and Virgin included, must try to help expand out of this problem.  You know, look for opportunities and there will be hundreds of opportunities around.  And they must try to get out and employ people.  And they’re going to find their cost space is going to be less right now.  They’re going to be able to employ people at slightly more cost-effective ways than they have in the past.  And I think – if thousands of small companies can try to fill in the gaps that some of the bigger companies are going to create.