Entrepreneurship in Luxembourg was the theme of the paperJam Club Breakfast Talk at Mudam on Thursday, 2 October. Within the framework of the paperJam Club Management & Strategies cycle, the meeting was treated to an opening address by minister of the economy Jeannot Krecké, who received a certificate welcoming him as an honorary member of the PaperJam Club.

Guests at the round-table discussion, hosted by paperJam chief editor Jean-Michel Gaudron, included Xavier Buck of EuroDNS, Emmanuel Vivier of Vanksen Group and Charles Louis Ackermann of Poudrerie de Luxembourg.

Krecké could hardly avoid making reference to the financial crises that have blighted the economy this week and linked them to the theme of the meeting by talking of the “calculated risk” taken by the government in bailing out the stricken Fortis and Dexia banks. “The situation is not resolved yet, but we have shown we are prepared to take the decisions required,” the minister told his audience. But he stressed that entrepreneurs and bankers would have to take similarly tough decisions if progress is to be made. The tax cuts announced in the budget this week by Luc Frieden and Jean-Claude Juncker were another “calculated risk” in an effort to “re-boost the economy,” Krecké explained.

“Now is the time to have ideas, to be innovative and reactive,” the minister urged as he warmed to his subject and explained the government’s decision to invest some 140 million Euros in the bio-medical technology sector.

“Play the game”

Citing his ministry’s current “Trau Dech" campaign, Krecké made it clear that he wants to encourage more people to become entrepreneurs and start their own business. The minister expressed his disappointment at the fact that independents make up just 6.5 percent of the workforce in Luxembourg. “That is not even half of the European average,” he lamented. He listed the various state aid instruments available to help with both financing projects and developing contacts outside the Grand Duchy (which he acknowledged had been comprehensively detailed in the last edition of PaperJam), but said that they were still not being fully exploited by local entrepreneurs. He also stressed that local companies need to start looking further afield than the Greater Region and the neighbouring countries of Belgium, France and Germany for partnerships and export markets.

While the minister admitted there were weaknesses with some local structures, he boasted that several recent legislative reforms had dramatically improved and helped speed up procedures such as obtaining work permits for staff hired from outside the European Union. But he also urged local businesses to “play the game” and not to abuse the system by hiring highly qualified staff with unique skills sets from abroad and then paying salaries equivalent to that which an intern would earn.

“Each decision is a calculated risk”

That much was clear from the subsequent discussion between the guests at the Mudam. All three members of the panel had some form of grievance with the state administrations. Emmanuel Vivier tackled Krecké over a refusal of visas for foreign employees he wished to hire. Xavier Buck had a lively debate with representatives from the recently created Luxembourg for Business agency about a perceived lack of cooperation in helping promote Luxembourg abroad as a place of business. And Charles Louis Ackerman said he had been left frustrated at the snail’s pace at which authorisation has proceeded to allow the conversion of an industrial production site to other business activities.

However, it was not just the Luxembourg authorities that were the target of criticism. The European Union’s instruments for helping entrepreneurs and business development were broadly decried for their bureaucratic complexity and for discriminating in favour of economically poorer regions and thus creating unfair competition.

Nevertheless, all three guests appeared to agree that the advantages of setting up business in Luxembourg probably outweighed the negatives. The pool of multi-lingual human resources, the size of the country and accessibility of public authorities (and the general efficiency) were all praised.

Attitudes towards risk also diverged. Charles Louis Ackermann, for instance said that he felt every day he was faced with new risks. “Each morning at work there are surprises and decisions to be made, and each one is a calculated risk,” he said. Xavier Buck, on the other hand, said that although he felt a certain risk was involved in launching EuroDNS eight years ago, it was a risk carefully calculated to have only one winner. “If you are a good entrepreneur it is not really a risk, because you should know your market,” Buck explained.

See Xavier Buck's Video Interview HERE.

See Emmanuel Vivier's Video Interview HERE.

See Charles Louis Ackermann's Video Interview HERE.