Don’t be scared of failure, States are told

Nick Ogden, who started up his first internet business in Broad Street in 1994 and went on to develop global payment service WorldPay, recently launched ClearBank in London, a disruptive competitor to the big four banking groups.

Mr Ogden said Jersey had already hosted a number of early business successes, including the first online shop – Wine Warehouse – as well as online retailers Play.com and data centre Foreshore.

He said there was a ‘huge pent-up interest’ in innovation, but no real knowledge of how to apply it.

‘Technology is only part of the answer,’ he said.

‘Getting teams together is important, but you do not need them all to be here, physically. You can have the brains here, the leadership here.

‘Artificial intelligence, big data – you do not have to build it, you just need to know what to use it for,’ he added.

However, an enterprise environment was important, he suggested, with politicians playing their part over the long term.

‘Things will go wrong, but you have to have the environment that will support innovation. You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a princess.

‘An individual may fail, but they should be applauded for trying. That is what is different in North America – if someone fails, they shake themselves down and just get on with it,’ he said.

Mr Ogden made the comments during Enterprise week, which was organised by States-funded Jersey Business.

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