BAHAMAS (February 14, 2014) -The path to personal and national economic growth, for the most part, is the same, according to a leading financial specialist.

Former Bahamian Finance Minister Zhivargo Laing says the key is "entrepreneurship" and he urges people to "look to the wealth of knowledge, experience, creativity and innovation they have to generate ideas that have the force of profitability."

Likewise, businesses had to reach deep into "their reservoir of ingenuity to do business on new levels of excellence and pride, anchoring their every effort in the central objective of wowing customers."

Governments for their part must treat business facilitation, growth and development "as a necessity for promoting the generation of resources to alleviate poverty, enhance the social safety nets of their societies, give young people a chance at education and opportunities, and develop their nations further."

Laing, who is also an entrepreneur in the Bahamas, stressed "pro-business" policies of governments do not mean "surrendering the fate of people to the callous hands of the marketplace - but it does mean respecting the enormously powerful role those hands play in tilling the fortunes of the social earth."

Furthermore, Laing, a motivational speaker, declared: "New business, more business, and better business is the primary need of the global economic environment. It is the cure for so many personal and community economic and financial challenges."

Laing asserted such clarity is needed now as individuals and governments struggle in tough economic times: "If we don't get this, we are missing the boat and the status quo will continue."