Help and wealth will make business grow

Nov 17 2008 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

MALCOLM Page is One North East's new deputy chief executive. Peter McCusker meets the man at the forefront of a drive by the regional development agency to help businesses.

THE regional development agency has never had a deputy chief executive before and the man who landed the job has started at one of the most commercially challenging times for decades. One of Malcolm Page’s first acts was to knit together a £10m finance package to help North East businesses counter the economic downturn.

And he says there is more to come as he, and the ONE board, cranks up efforts to help the region’s businesses.

The next major project in his in-tray is the work on knitting together the JEREMIE (Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises initiative) project which aims to establish a £125m venture capital fund, which will then help create funding legacy for future generations.

He said: “While helping businesses through the immediate effects of the credit crunch – such as a £10m credit crunch support package and £500,000 to support firms hit by the recent floods – we are looking to the future and the prize of a £125m pot of gold.

“We are working with partners regionally, and in Europe, to create a super fund which would offer finance to small and medium-sized companies to help them grow and compete for years to come.”

ONE’s board will meet tomorrow to rubber stamp its £19m contribution to the scheme with further funding coming from the European Regional Development Fund.

If the European Investment Bank likes what ONE has to say then the scheme could be up and running by this time next year.

And this cash will be used to encourage the entrepreneurial spirit that ONE and its partners see as vital to helping in the rebirth of the North East economy.

Gateshead-born Page started work at 16 as a clerk at Tyne and Wear County Council and he has spent his whole career in the public sector, joining ONE in 2000 as head of finance and rapidly moving up the ladder since then.

As deputy chief executive he joins fellow public sector veteran ONE chief executive Alan Clarke at the top of the regional development agency, responsible for spending over £300m of taxpayers money to boost the region’s prosperity.

In recent years ONE has stepped up its efforts to encourage business, viewing the private sector and entrepreneurship as vital in the region’s rebirth.

So when I ask him if it is a prerequisite of reaching the top at ONE to have a public sector background? He ponders for a while, shuffles a little, congratulates me on my question and says: “We have a business-led board. Our executive directors are from both the public and private sectors and Margaret (ONE chairman Margaret Fay, the former managing director of Tyne Tees Television) is from the private sector, so this does provide us with balance.

“However I believe it is difficult for the chief executive not to have public sector experience. I would say we are a quasi-public sector organisation.”

In recent years ONE launched its Regional Economic Strategy which emphasises a renewed focus on encouraging business including as it did, a goal of seeing 22,000 new businesses created by 2016.

Page, 41, said: “We have certainly developed a stronger business focus over the last two to three years. We are building up the foundations with our partners and we have developed a detailed business investment programme. The links between ourselves and the business community are now much stronger and we believe we are now much more fleet of foot and flexible because of these foundations which we have laid.”

He cites the example of the £10m support package it recently made available to North East businesses to help them through the recession which has so far helped more than 50 companies.

On the issue of the public sector and the private sector I brought up the recent figures which showed how the number of jobs in the private sector had risen by 47,000 in the last five years as the number of jobs in the private sector fell by 12,000.

Page said: “The public sector is not too big, It’s just that we need to grow the private sector and to do that we have to encourage more business growth.”

Page’s commitment to the economic rebirth of the region cannot be questioned and being a North Easterner certainly helps he believes.

“I love the place,” he enthuses. “It has everything you want and I believe it certainly helps in my job that I am from the region.”

Page lives in Monkseaton with his wife Maria and their two children, he places family life high at the top of his list of priorities.

“My working life is challenging and conducted at a fast pace, which is part of the attraction. So my home life and leisure time are extremely important.

“Cycling has always been a real passion. I started with mountain bikes which I used to race on Sundays and graduated to road bikes on which I spend as much time as I can grab.

“As well as keeping you fit I believe cycling also gives you good self-discipline.

“On a personal level, I have always enjoyed all sorts of sports. I used to play football five times a week (although age and other commitments have now got in the way!) and have also enjoyed climbing, windsurfing and golf.

“Music is a real passion having caught the bug from my eldest sister at a very young age. I have a big record/cd collection (too big says my wife) and have decided as well as listening to music that I should learn to play and am currently learning the piano.

“My work life balance is important – work hard and play hard has always been a good philosophy for me.

“My family is extremely important and I always spend good quality time with my two daughters, Niamh, six, and Alexa, three, including doing the school-run when I can and making sure I’m home in time for a chat and to give them their bedtime book each evening.”

ONE recently learned it will see £34m axed from its annual £300m budget and Page says this will begin to have an impact on its work in the 2010 to 2011 financial year.

“We will have to spend less on staffing and savings will have to be made. We will have to do more with less.”

However he believes the impact of the budget cuts on ONE’s drive to help businesses will be cushioned by the beginning of the JEREMIE programme.

And he says there is enough cash in the pot to ensure its businesses development programmes can be met until that is launched

Page continued: “We are working with venture capital specialists North East Finance to secure the fund from the JEREMIE initiative.

“The aim is to have the new JEREMIE fund in place in the North East for firms to access during 2010.

“In the meantime, One North East has extended the life of existing funds such as the Proof of Concept and North East Investment Funds to ensure that companies can access finance up until JEREMIE goes live.

“Rather than establish a number of separate investment funds as One North East has in the past, JEREMIE will enable the North East to create a holding fund which will allow it to tailor finance to specific business need.”

Page has ultimate faith that the measures being put in place and the work ethic of the North East business community and its people will see us through the current recession.

“We will come out of it stronger and better equipped for a prosperous long-term future.”