Last Saturday I spoke at the National Student Enterprise Conference, addressing a group of young entrepreneurs, looking to set up businesses.

The conference was billed as “Business Not As Usual”, which I took to mean that we could look forward to two days of innovative thinking which could guide the next generation of entrepreneurs. The opening keynote speaker was Julie Meyer of Ariadne Capital. She gave a speech with some good advice for young start-ups but which was peppered with the sort of anti-government, pro-business propaganda which I’d expect to hear at a Sarah Palin Tea Party. It was overtly political, using politics which directly contradict my own. I tried to challenge her but wasn’t called to ask her a question. I got a touch irritated…

I then gave my own address to a smaller group, where I directly challenged some of her points, arguing that it was entrepreneurialism gone wild which had forced the government to run the huge deficit she so decried, and that the government had little choice but to bail out the banks if it wanted to keep public services afloat. I then called for entrepreneurs to worry less about getting rich and to instead address their talents to the macro-problems of the world, as I see them:

• The threat of catastrophic climate change
• Social inequality, particularly in the developing world
• Digital exclusion: As the developed world gallops through the digital revolution, huge swathes of humanity are left behind (this was a tech session).

I stand by all of that, and frankly a conference can take a mild dispute like this, but I stepped over the line at one point.

Noticing that Shell Livewire were exhibiting, I asked the audience to question why an oil company should be present at an event billed as Business Not As Usual? The truth is, I didn’t know who Shell Livewire were, and by singling them out I did them an injustice. They’ve since contacted me to explain what they do and I’m happy to relate that.

Shell LiveWIRE is a programme which is managed by The PNE Group- a non profit- social enterprise based in Newcastle/ Gateshead. Our activities are all based around encouraging enterprise, and we have been doing this for nearly 30 years and run all manner of programmes of which some of our biggest activity is in the 3rd/ voluntary sector and Shell LiveWIRE. Like any other NPO we have great ideas and need organisations to fund them.

Shell LiveWIRE is a programme we have run for many years, and indeed we also manage Shell LiveWIRE international- which is active in around 25 countries encouraging youth enterprise. We were one of the first organisations to actively promote enterprise as a viable choice for young people nearly 30 years ago and one of the first to have an annual awards event. Shell, for nearly 30 years, have funded this activity either in whole or in part.

A bit more digging on their website and it’s clear they do much good work, I particularly like this. They’re not Shell, they’re just supported by Shell. A commercial decision which I wouldn’t have taken myself, but which I understand and which doesn’t deserve criticism from the stage. My apologies gentlemen.

As for the rest of the conference, the sessions I attended were indeed challenging and practical. I missed day two, but the Twitter feed suggests the students took a lot from it.