BELFAST BRIEFING: Swapping the pressures of corporate life for the delights of the kitchen

IF YOU want the low-down on what it is like to be an entrepreneur in Northern Ireland in these post-recession, pre-recovery times, then pop along to Ted Jensen at St George’s Market this weekend in Belfast.

At 6ft 8in tall, Californian-born Jensen is hard to miss. The fact that he will probably be standing under a banner advertising “Big Ted’s American Cookies” also helps him stand out from the crowd.

Four years ago Jensen, a mechanical engineer, left a senior position with Caterpillar, one of the world’s largest companies. He had worked for the US group’s Northern Ireland division, FG Wilson, for 19 years before he decided that it was time for a change.

Jensen’s decision to swap the world of big business for his kitchen was inspired initially by his own way of dealing with the pressures of corporate life.

“When I was with FG Wilson and I was really stressed, I would come home and bake a big batch of cookies. I finally decided that for the sake of my health and my family that it was time for a change. I did not want to leave FG Wilson in a box,” he says.

What makes Jensen different is that, instead of talking about leaving his job and working for himself, which is what a lot of people in the North do all the time, he decided to actually do it.

Jensen’s authentic American cookies, which he had been baking since he was four years old with his mother and grandmother in the US, were a definite hit at home with his Northern Irish family so he decided to take a bite at setting up his own business.

Big Ted’s American Cookies went into production with Jensen baking 16 cookies at a time in his oven at home. As demand grew, he went into partnership with Ditty’s Home Bakery in Castledawson, where the ovens can deliver 1,200 of Jensen’s hand-crafted cookies at a time.

He currently supplies around 50 cafes in the North and the larger farmers’ markets – proof that his business idea is now all in the eating.

Jensen believes that despite the current depressed economic environment in Northern Ireland, it is still a “fabulous” place to be an entrepreneur.

“What I am doing now is still very hard work. It can be stressful and I was certainly making a lot more money when I worked for FG Wilson but, for me, it is now about setting my own challenges and it is great fun. You set your own targets and you grow your business,” he says.

He admits the economic downturn has meant he has had to reshape his business plan quite dramatically, and last year was particularly difficult. Jensen had hoped to double his business in 2009 but it grew by just 20 per cent. This year, however, he has expanded his customer base and he is looking at expanding to the Republic.

But he has no regrets.

The American entrepreneur believes people in the North are generally very supportive of anyone who is setting up a new business. He believes this is because entrepreneurs are something of a unique species in Northern Ireland.

“There is no culture of entrepreneurism in Northern Ireland. You really come across very few people who have a real desire to set up their own business. The culture here is the exact opposite to entrepreneurism – it is about not risking things and just going on quietly.

“My wife is from Northern Ireland and she talks about never putting your head above the parapet, not standing out from the crowd, and that is exactly what you have to do to be a successful entrepreneur. You have to stand out if you are going to succeed, you have to be prepared to make a fool of yourself. But you know what, that is where the fun is. It is really good crack to run a business,” Jensen adds.

It is a message he is currently taking to local schools in a move to encourage the next generation of would-be entrepreneurs to dream big.

The big question now is what should Northern Ireland be doing to help more people like Ted Jensen who want to go into business for themselves?

According to one of Europe’s leading entrepreneurship experts, creating the right environment is just as important as encouraging bright ideas.

Really imaginative new companies like the Creativity Hub, which is behind Rory’s Story Cubes – an innovative game which contains nine 19mm cubes to spark the imagination and is fast becoming an Apple store favourite – are still few and far between in the North.

But Prof Peter Russo, founder and director of the Strascheg Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the European Business School in Frankfurt, believes Northern Ireland could be an ideal test-bed for an “experimental entrepreneurial programme”.

Prof Russo, who is delivering an InterTradeIreland Innovation lecture at Queen’s University tonight, says the real challenge facing entrepreneurs “lies in commercialising the new ideas in the right way”.

“If a strong strategy can be developed and put in place to implement new ideas, Northern Ireland could expect to enjoy significant economic gains,” he says.

Perhaps then more people like Ted Jensen could enjoy the sweet taste of success.