While many people are still indulging in drawing lessons from the global financial crisis and world economic recessions, Johan Gorecki, CEO and Founder of Globe Forum said that he didn't see recession, he just saw a generation shift.
He made the remark on Friday in an interview with People's Daily Online during Globe Forum which began on Thursday in Stockholm.
After the selling of the Skype software to EBay, Mr. Gorecki started the Globe Forum with a couple of friends four years ago.
"All these years our thinking is based on how we will solve environmental problems with innovations, We don't believe in the philosophy of blaming people. We believe in seeing the opportunities. And things should be solved through innovations. I think that large corporations and cities should prioritize innovations more because it is very easy and it is very structured. You directly solve the problems. It is also about a lot of small things, small improvements that we can do to make a difference in the end," said Gorecki.
The theme of this year's forum has been 'business innovation for sustainable growth'. Gorecki said it is a matchmaking between business innovations and large corporations. About 65 large corporations such as Microsoft, DHL and Philips, 300 innovators and over 1300 people participated in the two day forum.
Wu Jianmin, Professor from China Foreign Affairs University and C.S.Kiang from Peking University Environment Fund spoke during the forum. In addition, there are also many cities sending representatives to the forum to seek sustainable city models.
Gorecki said his model of forum is welcomed by many cities.
"I think they are coming for a number of reasons because they are interested in innovations and corporations, we give them a clear platform."
He said about 10 cities have agreed to host the forum. After the summer they are going to go to Gdansk in Poland and then to Dublin in Ireland to spread the sustainable business ideas. He is looking for a partner city in China too.
"We are very keen to open up Globe Forum in China because there is a big demand from corporations that we are active and open up in China. So we are looking for a city that wants to be the host for Global Forum. At the moment I feel that it should be Beijing. Beijing is the most important city. Most things are happening there, so we are going to have a discussion with the government of Beijing. Except that we are also talking with Boston in the States, I think today it is very important to have Europe, the US and China, that is a very important triangle for us when it comes to sustainable development," said Gorecki.
Being asked whether their rotating forum will increase the footprint, Gorecki thinks that quality time meeting is still very important. People still need to have face to face discussions and start projects.
He said he indeed pays attention to living in labeled hotels and eat in the green restaurants. "That is part of my living. "
Being asked about his advice to startup companies, he gave five advices.
First, don't be afraid, open for failure. Normally it takes a couple of failures before you succeed.
Second, you must be very confident in yourself because what innovation means is that you are innovating something new that doesn't exist which means it is going to be very hard for other people to say it is good or bad. Probably they will say it looks very strange. We had never heard about it. But that is innovation, of course you never heard about it. So be confident in yourself no matter what the other people say.
Thirdly, go for clients, and not venture capital, I think you need to prove yourself, even if you go to venture capital, you need to prove that you have clients and customers in the market, you can't just start with the business idea, I see thousands of good ideas, but it is not about good ideas, it is about leadership. The person behind the idea. So you need to be able to show that this is something that you can sell.
Fourthly, it takes time. Most people think it only takes about one year, but you need to be stubborn and probably take about five years. So you need to afford to be long term.
And, the fifth are you the right person for the job? Are you the sales person or are you an innovator, probably you are the right person to invent a good idea, a good innovator, but you may not be the right person to sell. It is very important to be honest to yourself that there could be person who is better than yourself at selling. And don't be afraid to let other people in to do partnerships and give market shares to partners. Otherwise, you will lose key people. So directly do your friends or colleagues partners.
"Being asked whether his business is affected by the financial crisis and economic recession, he said, "I don't see recession, I see a generation shift," said Gorecki confidently.
By Xuefei Chen, People's Daily Online, Stockholm.
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