Green Shoots Of Recovery
Although the timing was a little off, the “green shoots of recovery” comments made by Business minister Baroness Vadera may not be too far from the truth, it seems.
There is no question that the British economy is in a bad way. I say that to make sure that nobody accuses me of being “unbelievably insensitive”. Of course the economy is not in good shape, and times are incredibly tough for everyone, but that does not mean that there aren’t little chinks of light in the darkness, and I assume that this is what Baroness Vadera was talking about.
Barclays may be letting people go, Jaguar Land Rover may be driving their staff away, Honda may be slashing output, and there are guaranteed to be more retail chains that go into administration and businesses that close, but that is not to say that there isn’t the odd success story (or potential green shoots of recovery)out there as well. Primark reported strong holiday season trading resulting in an increase of 18% in sales in the 16 weeks up to 3 January compared with the previous year; discount fashion retailer Peacocks reported a 22% increase in sales in the same period and is planning to open up to 50 more stores over the next few years, generating more jobs; Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Iceland have all reported that they will be taking on thousands more staff and will be expanding their businesses with new branches, some even reported the best Christmas trading ever. As far as I understand it, even with these all taken into account the economy is still on a downward slant, but I’m going to be an optimist today and focus on the positive news. I appreciate that this is a little off trend at the moment as the media are leading us down the gloomy path to a bleak future, but it does not have to be that way. I’m going with the glass half-full attitude, and that’s official.
Green shoots of recovery can be seen at Angels Den as well. Not that we had a downturn, as the numbers of entrepreneurs and Angel investors registering with us seem to be increasing month on month. But with 400 new highly motivated entrepreneurs with inspired business ideas and inventions signing up in December alone and 268 new Angel investors offering to put their capital where it is most needed to fund new or expanding businesses, Angels Den has had the best Christmas trading ever.
If you have an invention or business idea that could benefit from additional funding to aid in its launch or expansion, or if you are interested in investing in new and exciting businesses that could help those green shoots of recovery, visit www.angelsden.co.uk to see what all the fuss is about.
Source:
Waitrose to add 4,000 positions
Angels fly to Den in record numbers
Image © shellac
