Welcome to Martin Roche's Etoile blog

Welcome to the first of my blogs, which will be published whenever I think I have something useful to say. The core idea of the blog is to stimulate ideas, thoughts and opinions about economic development in its widest sense.

Some days I might discuss organisational structure. On another day it might be macro economic policy, or SME development, or the role of the Arts and culture, or how to communicate better in a globalised world. In short, I’ll write about things that interest me and are relevant to economic development professionals all over the globe. Please give me your feedback. Without feedback there’s no real point in a public blog and without feedback there’s no real sharing of ideas and experiences.

I’ve been involved in economic development for over 30 years and advised agencies across the world. Most of my time has been spent helping national, regional and local government agencies communicate more effectively with all their audiences, but I was a case officer and unit director before specialising in communications.

For me, economic development has two great attractions. First and most importantly it has the fundamental purpose of trying to make life better for people. I’ve always got a great deal of satisfaction whenever a project I’ve been involved with brought new investment, new jobs and new opportunities, whether in manufacturing, financial services, retail, hospitality, culture, the Arts or tourism. Actually, satisfaction is not an adequate word to describe the buzz of adrenalin from being part of success. It’s more like the feeling you get when you score the winning points at sport.

The second great attraction for me is that economic development is where politics meets economics and where business meets the public sector; it’s where people who make things happen come together to achieve good things.