Celebrating the qualities Jersey needs

As a celebration of some of the qualities which have underpinned the Island’s past success, both economic and social, and which continue also to inspire confidence in the future, it would be hard to imagine a more impressive presentation.

At one level, of course, the event was organised to acknowledge achievements in the world of business during 2011, with the awards being all the more merited because of the difficult trading conditions in which they took place. In a more general way, though, it served to highlight very clearly such abstract attributes as creative imagination, technical innovation, teamwork, training,

customer care, community spirit and the pursuit of excellence. All will be needed in full measure if Jersey is to consolidate its credentials as a place where enterprise can flourish in a changing world, where new opportunities are created for well-educated Island residents and where the profit motive is tempered by the human touch.

With the need for economic diversification now universally accepted, it is encouraging to note that the business category winners came from areas outside the world of offshore finance, which will nevertheless remain the main engine of the economy for the foreseeable future.

From plant hire to hotel-keeping and from private physiotherapy to the upliftingly enthusiastic work of the relatively young Liberation Group, the high quality of whose pubs and brewery chain earned it the coveted Jersey Telecom Business of the Year Award, there was evidence of an abundance of talented people finding new ways to create and market good business ideas.

They represent just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the wealth of entrepreneurial business development taking place throughout the year, some of which makes Jersey a world leader in the field.

The Eric Young Orchid Foundation, winner of the Guiton Group Ambassador of the Year Award, is a wonderful case in point. Specialist work in the development and promotion of orchids, based in a quiet corner of Trinity, has earned a global renown in horticultural circles which matches that achieved in agriculture by the Jersey cow and brings huge, if sometimes hitherto under-appreciated, reflected glory to the Island.

Congratulations are due to all the short-listed entrants, as well as to the organisers of this important competition, but few cheers will be as loud as those for a group of winners whose work has little directly to do with the world of business but everything to demonstrate the quiet, inspirational power of the charity volunteers whose selfless dedication to a myriad causes is one Jersey’s greatest assets.

The Hospital League of Friends, winners of the Condor Ferries Community award, earned their moment in the spotlight after years of industry and endeavour devoted to creating an organisation at least as remarkable and valuable as any of their commercial counterparts.