MJ Experia Marketing Host Debate: Entrepreneurship Will Improve Local Economies

Events marketing and sales firm MJ Experia Marketing will host a debate on the theme of entrepreneurship and its impact on local communities. The event will take place in the Birmingham-based office on 5th February 2014 and is expected to attract attendees from the West Midlands and wider area.

Matthew Wassall, managing director of MJ Experia Marketing, will moderate the debate. MJ Experia Marketing has selected 6 debate panelists who they trust to be professional and fair. Each panelist is a start-up business owner or self-employed individual with at least 12 months’ experience in their field. Matthew Wassall explained that the debate is intended to raise the profile of Birmingham’s entrepreneurship community and to ‘start a conversation’ about the role that a strong startup scene can play in the recovery of the local economy. “Birmingham is in a great position at the moment – the city has a great business community, fantastic culture and is becoming a big draw for tourists. After years of being virtually overlooked, Birmingham is starting to gain recognition from the rest of the country as England’s second city,” says Matthew Wassall. “Things are far from perfect however - there are still areas of deprivation and social inequality. The purpose of this debate is to look at how as a community we can find solutions which draw on the skills and experience of our entrepreneurial scene.”

The debate will offer a fantastic networking opportunity for up to 50 entrepreneurs and innovators in Birmingham to come together and discuss two key points: Entrepreneurship Should Be Taught in Schools, and Entrepreneurship Will Trump Innovation in the UK’s Economic Recovery. The discussion over whether entrepreneurship can be taught is a popular one in the USA, where many schools and universities offer entrepreneurship classes. Inc.com argues that entrepreneurship is a skillset based on experience, which cannot be replicated in a classroom. In opposition, Time magazine cites the example of the Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) which has enabled high-school students in disadvantaged areas the opportunity to start their own businesses or enter the workforce with a stronger set of business skills. MJ Experia Marketing expects that the innovation vs. entrepreneurship debate will prove to be a contentious one, given Birmingham’s status as a technology hub. “We are not suggesting that innovation is not important – it’s about debating whether small businesses of any industry contribute more to the local economy than innovations by big companies,” says managing director Matthew Wassall. Business Birmingham reports that two-thirds of the city’s small and medium-sized enterprises expect to increase their turnover and profitability over the next year.

MJ Experia Marketing encourages entrepreneurship and believes the debate will help bring issues to light that are holding back the UK’s economic growth. “We have chosen topics that have strong arguments on either side. The debate is intended to start a discussion which will be kept going through regular networking amongst the Birmingham small business community,” says Matthew Wassall, debate moderator and managing director of MJ Experia Marketing.