Opportunities for entrepreneurs never greater, U.K. publishing magnate tells 40th IAA Congress

Heseltine, co-founder and chairman of the Haymarket Publishing Group, the largest magazine publisher in the United Kingdom, and former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, opened the last day of the biennial IAA Congress at the Dubai International Convention Centre with a call for renewed excellence and international engagement.

'We have never gone through as dramatic a period of world change, and we have never been in a time of such opportunity,' Heseltine said. 'There are six billion of us on this planet, with world economic growth growing at 3 percent to 4 percent annually, and an explosion in education around the world, and this combination of wealth and curiosity has created tremendous opportunity for entrepreneurs in the pursuit of excellence.'

'If I had come here 10 years ago, I'd have said 'I'm the chairman of a company publishing magazines,' he said. 'Today, I would say I'm chairman of a company producing excellence in editorial content. We don't make paper, and we don't put anything together - the nature of magazines as content providers has become the essence of what we do.'

'In the face of endless change, our philosophy remains the same: When we are in a market, we want to be number one in content, number one in visual and editorial excellence, and we want to be the one that tells it first and tells it best,' he said.

Heseltine encouraged business leaders to think beyond national boundaries, and enter into international and regional partnerships, a model that has reaped tremendous rewards for the Haymarket Group.

With more than 100 consumer, professional, trade and consumer titles in 23 languages in more than 100 nations, the publishing group has expanded globally through licensing operations, subsidiaries and joint ventures. The publications are also complemented by websites and other electronic publications, and live events including exhibitions, conferences and awards.

'It's easy to think of emerging markets, technologies and publishers as threats, but if someone else is a threat, they have seen an opportunity. If they have seen an opportunity, why don't you get there first?' Heseltine said. 'Innovation is all around, and the threats dramatic and ever present, but there are exponential opportunities that exist for those with the energy and the wit to seek it.'

Heseltine is one of 30 high-profile speakers presenting at the 40th IAA World Congress and Exhibition in Dubai, the largest of its kind in history. The final day of the three-day congress also included addresses from Jim Stengel, Global Marketing Officer of Procter & Gamble; Jerry Rao, CEO of Mphasis; and Gregory Lee, CMO of Samsung Electronics.