I had the good fortune to be present at the Courtyard Restaurant on a warm Monday evening last week, during a dinner in which high-tech guru Jim Roche delivered a stirring sermon.

As one of the prime drivers of today's society, Roche said, businesses and corporations have an interest – nay, a responsibility – to serve the public good. In the end, he continued, it just makes good business sense to enrich and enlighten the lives of the people these entities depend upon.

Companies can still make money whilst serving the public good, he argued – indeed, it may be the only way forward within an increasingly socially conscious, No Logo-influenced public.

"Think back to the Middle Ages," said the co-founder of both Tundra Semiconductor and Newbridge Networks. "When you approached a city, what did you immediately see on the horizon?"

A few guesses were tossed back and forth, until someone finally said: "The cathedral."

"Exactly," responded Roche. "You'd see the cathedral, and then the castle – both powerful symbols of the church and the state."

In the 21st century, however, cities are neither marked by the sun-drenched spires of cathedral towers, nor the rooks of a looming castle keep. Rather, urban centres are identified by skylines of gleaming office buildings.

In this regard, he said, companies, businesspeople and corporations have in some ways usurped both the church and the state as the primary leaders – for good or ill – of western society. And when the business of business is cast in this light, it becomes painfully obvious just how much social responsibility falls on its shoulders.

Sadly, there's little evidence most in the commercial world have torn themselves from their BlackBerrys long enough to notice.

We see this daily in news headlines and anecdotally, be it the Enron fiasco or the recent subprime mortgage meltdown and ensuing credit and financial crisis which began in the U.S., but is spreading. During the good years of the housing bubble – years which more than one analyst has termed an "unprecedented orgy of greed" – anyone and their grandmothers could score a U.S. mortgage.

This, as we've now discovered, encroached the dizzying heights of corporate and financial irresponsibility. The full effects of the mortgage crisis – in which a select few got very, very rich while simultaneously denting public confidence – are still unknown.

What is known is that we've seen a massive pullback in the will and ability of institutions to lend to and finance businesses, which may soon create even bigger problems.

Big banks and financial institutions, who spent like drunken sailors during the housing bubble, have suddenly gone gun-shy. Canadian angel investors, spooked by the recent chain reaction of bad investments across the financial sector, now balk at dishing out seed cash to startup companies – the very backbone of a thriving and diversified economy.

Indeed, Ottawa high-tech startups, the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation has noted, have received virtually no seed funding in the past few months. What will this mean for local companies and talent in the years long after the mortgage crisis recedes from public memory, in 2009 or 2010?

Sadly, some fear Ottawa's critical mass of business activities – in all sectors – will suffer a permanent hit.

Each group of financiers, meanwhile, waits patiently till they can ride out next big bubble, whatever form it may take.

Taking the bear by the horns

Considering the bearish market we now find ourselves in, for many it's a knee-jerk reaction to make conservative business plays – especially in Ottawa, where conservatism and cautiousness tends to rule the day.

But in these days of murky financial forecasts and gloomy economic outlooks – driven, at least in part, by a hyperactive media – there's something to be said for acting aggressively but responsibly, especially when one has aspirations of planting, nurturing and ultimately growing a healthy business.

My predecessor often poked fun at what he saw as a lack of entrepreneurial spirit in Ottawa. Some readers agreed, and some disagreed. Some even suggested folks with such heretical views "leave town."

And maybe they're right. But I can't help thinking many Ottawans would be better served by emulating the entrepreneurial spirit shown by OCRI, which regularly holds an intensive, take-no-prisoners Entrepreneur's Edge course. It's a five-day boot camp aimed, mostly, at technical innovators looking to add business savvy to their repertoires.

I recently attended this course, and while my level of technical expertise rivals that of your local 12-year-old on his or her PlayStation 3, I also couldn't help noticing a distinct level of entrepreneurial shyness amongst the group.

As my predecessor fervently argued in many an issue of the OBJ, local Ottawa businesses too often fall victim to the "Canadian syndrome" – too polite, too quiet, and, too often, pushed roughly to the side in favour of American hardballers who don't shy away from flexing their muscles.

Sometimes, of course, this works in our favour. After all, we've thus far felt less of a financial pinch thanks to a more conservative mortgage and credit system.

But now, more than ever, local entrepreneurs need to take the bull – er, bear, in this case – by the horns, and forge their own destinies.