AN ECONOMIC downturn offers entrepreneurs a time for opportunities, providing fertile ground for the strongest ideas and enterprises to thrive, a top regional banker said yesterday.

'In this situation, it's perseverance, the ability to spot opportunities, sometimes asking the questions that no one is asking, daring to take a different path from what the majority of people are taking,' said Mr Didier von Daeniken, the chief executive of Barclays Wealth Asia Pacific.

He spoke at the release of The Entrepreneur In Adversity, a new report published by Barclays Wealth and the Economist Intelligence Unit.

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