When I was growing up in the 50’s/60’s, there were
all kinds of Polish jokes floating around like how many Poles does it take to
screw in a light bulb and while I laughed at them and told a few myself, at
least those I could remember, I never fully knew or even questioned why
everyone teased about Poland. But, the
joke is on us because as they saw what goes around comes around.
Recently, I came across a story written in 2010 and according
to the story, “Poland is the only European Union country to escape the
recession in the past two years.” That
is pretty amazing because the recession of 2008 kicked the United States “in
the proverbial ass,” from which we are still attempting to recover 5 years
later.
Amy Kellogg, the original reporter of the story quotes
Waldemar Pawlak, the Minister of Economy,
“Poland is the only country in the European Union that achieved
economic growth, because of the great activity of Polish entrepreneurs and
because of the very dynamic attitude of our businessmen.”
Another
factor that has helped Poland avoid pain on the level some of its neighbors are
experiencing is the fact that its citizens are not in debt to the extent others
are. The whole idea of credit is relatively new to this country. So
you will find people explain that they, for example, paid for their homes in
cash.
Jakub Lipinski, CEO of Polidea, a Polish software
company, says,
“There is an anecdote that goes: A young man runs up to his
grandfather and says ‘Grandpa, look how much I have in my piggybank, how much I
have managed to save!’ The grandfather touches his head and says, ‘You shouldn’t learn how to save, you should learn how to earn
money.’” Read more:
So, here’s
my question: why can’t we find the
entrepreneurs in this country that Poland has been able to find in their
country?- Is there too much of a risk?
- Are banks not willing to support start-up ventures?
- Do venture capitalists want too much ownership for their investment?
- Is it just too much work and effort for Americans?
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