ONE name among many worthy of note stood out at last night’s Jersey Enterprise Awards ceremony.

That name was Colin Powell and it came to the fore because the man who has lately been the chairman of the Jersey Financial Services Commission, but has distinguished himself over many years as a truly outstanding Islander, won the title of Guiton Group Ambassador of the Year.

The Ambassador of the Year award is presented to a person who, in the view of the judges, has made an outstanding contribution to raising the Island’s profile and boosting its reputation beyond our shores. As Guiton chairman and chief executive John Averty said when announcing the award’s recipient, Mr Powell is ‘in a class of his own’ in this respect through his role with the JFSC.

However, although the award focuses on ambassadorial skills and achievement, Colin Powell cannot be mentioned without reference to his sterling work for Jersey over four decades. He came to the Island in 1969 to become economic adviser to the States, but it was soon apparent that the quality of advice that he was able to give was so high that it was central to the growth of our finance industry and to the great prosperity that it has fostered.

But being at the heart of economic affairs was never enough for Mr Powell. Although he would be the last person to advertise it publicly, he has also worked tirelessly for charitable causes.

And there was other evidence of devoted service to the community at the awards. Ruth Dolbel, the leader of the 9th Jersey St Luke’s Cub pack, who has been involved in Scouting for 35 years, received the Garenne Group Community Award – though in her acceptance speech she generously said that recognition should really go to the many people who put so many hours and so much energy into the movement in Jersey.

Last night’s important event also served as an uplifting counterweight to the undeniably worrying economic circumstances in which Jersey, in common with the rest of the world, now finds itself.

Our hopes for recovery and better times ahead must lie with Jersey’s well-established spirit of enterprise and innovation, qualities which the winners and nominees in the business award categories have shown are still here in both abundance and – as will become increasingly important in the years ahead – adaptable diversity.