Liam Dann: All hail the entrepreneurial forces for change

Sam Morgan is among those backing a plan to build a high-speed internet link to the US via Australia. Photo / Rotorua Daily Post

It is sometimes said that there are two kinds of entrepreneur - the kind that creates wealth by building something new and the kind that shuffles other people's wealth in their direction.

We've heard a lot about the latter in the past two years and not nearly enough about the former.

In these days when the business news is heavy with failure and fraud Stephen Tindall, Sam Morgan and Rod Drury's backing of a plan to build a high-speed internet link to the US via Australia is a timely reminder that entrepreneurs can be a force for positive change.

Obviously the aim of those involved with Pacific Fibre is to create wealth for themselves and those who invest with them. If they can't demonstrate how the project will make a good return then they are going to struggle to find the $900 million they need.

But there are big risks for all involved in such an ambitious project. Certainly it is difficult enough to suggest they have motives beyond simply enriching themselves.

They all have other things they could be doing with their money and time and - particularly in the case of Morgan and Tindall - they have little need to increase their bank balances.

These are people who believe in New Zealand and want to do something that will benefit the whole nation. They should serve as inspiration for the next generation of budding Kiwi business people.

Six of those keen up and comers take their chances today, pitching their ideas in a competition at the Planet 2010 conference. Good luck to them.

Let's hope there is another Tindall, Morgan or Drury in the mix. Or a Lloyd Morrison or, who knows, maybe a Graeme Hart. Intensely private though he is, Hart's success in generating wealth should be celebrated by all New Zealanders.

Let's not forget that the staggering $7.5 billion that Forbes magazine attributed to him this week is not sitting in his bank account gathering dust. Almost all of it is invested in a business empire which employs thousands of people around the world.

Sure he's got a big house and a big boat but like other great entrepreneurs, he has an interest in business that goes far beyond personal comforts.

An obsessive passion for doing things, making things happen and creating order out of chaos is an attribute common to all the best wealth creators.

In the 21st century with Western governments - including our own - up to their necks in debt, we are going to look to private enterprise to fund large-scale public works.

John Key's Government has already acknowledged this with plans for public private infrastructure fund.

If we want New Zealanders to have a stake in these assets we need to produce more entrepreneurs and to get more New Zealanders excited about investing in their own country.

The tales of investor woe and the individuals responsible for them do nothing to encourage this.

They are important. They need to be told in detail so we can learn and move forward.

But we should celebrate the good stories and the good people that create them.

www.twitter.com/liamdann