Telecoms entrepreneur Denis O'Brien has been to Davos several times. He finds the economic summit useful because he can meet seven or eight people, including Wall Street private equity executives he works with, in one day in Davos when it would normally take a month or so to meet each individually.
He said Davos provided a "terrific networking opportunity" every year.
"You get your brain refreshed here," he said. "There is such a diversity of people that you meet here - there are different subjects and different topics. You sit through sessions and you don't really know what you're taking in but you are getting a different perspective."
He says Davos is not just a think-in but a place where successful campaigns have started.
He refers to the Red product brand, launched by Bono in Davos in 2006, which aims to raise $100 million this year for Aids relief in Africa.
"All roads lead back to Davos where people like Bono come here and embarrass companies to do some good. Now most major corporations have foundations whereas 10 years ago there was only a handful.
"That is the most powerful change that has come out of Davos in the last five years," said Mr O'Brien.
Much of the discussion at Davos this year has centred on the crisis in the financial markets. Mr O'Brien says merger and acquisition activity has "frozen" due to of the financial turmoil. "In the bond market there are only one or two deals getting done every month - it is absolutely horrendous."
Mr O'Brien completed a $800 million (€603 million) refinancing of his Caribbean mobile business, Digicel, last February.
He said the same deal would cost him 3 per cent more now because of the higher cost of borrowing money due to the credit crunch.
"We had the perfect storm where we had buyers and sellers. We were selling. We have been doing bond and equity deals in the capital markets for a long time.
"We had a feel that the market was not going to be there in April. It disappeared a week after the deal was concluded."
He says businesses will continue to have major difficulties raising capital. "Companies that are not fully funded are going to find it difficult.
"The big problem is not just on deals over the $100 million mark but below $100 million where banks are getting windy."
