We are the future
As British industry faces new global challenges, the government is looking to youthful entrepreneurs to ensure future prosperity Words : Steve Watson The World Bank’s report Doing Business 2007 named the UK as the sixth best place in the world to do business, based on factors including employing workers, getting credit and paying taxes. And [...]
As British industry faces new global challenges, the government is looking to youthful entrepreneurs to ensure future prosperity
Words : Steve Watson
The World Bank’s report Doing Business 2007 named the UK as the sixth best place in the world to do business, based on factors including employing workers, getting credit and paying taxes. And yet, the number of people actually starting businesses remains starkly modest. At the last count, the UK had just 6% of people engaged in entrepreneurial activities while the US (ranked third in the world by Doing Business 2007) had almost twice as many with 11%.
So how do you ensure that entrepreneurial spirit is not only kept alive but proactively flourishing, too? The obvious answer is to encourage young people. Make Your Mark is a body aimed not just at helping individuals but also at creating a new culture of enterprise amongst 14 to 30-year-olds in the UK and it hopes to have doubled the number in this age category thinking of starting a business by 2009.
Set up in 2004 by the Institute of Directors, British Chambers of Commerce, Confederation of British Industry and Federation of Small Businesses and in receipt each year
of £6 million in government funding, it covers the film, music and fashion, retail, manufacturing and engineering sectors.
This year it hosts its fourth – and biggest – Enterprise Week, 12-18 November by holding events around the country designed to connect with young people and give
them a fresh perspective on what it means to be in business. This is in addition to a series of other carefully targeted initiatives set up by Make Your Mark to help young people turn their passions into sustainable businesses.
“When we started the campaign we had to work out how young people related to the concept of enterprise,” says Raj Patel, Director of Policy for Make Your Mark. “Our
research found that they perceived enterprise as middleclass businessmen in suits which turned them off the notion of business. Yet they were doing lots of interesting
things, whether it was developing a piece of software with friends or DJ-ing in the evening. So the campaign’s message is: whatever it is you’re interested in, that interest could be translated into a commercial opportunity.”
Richard Mollet is Director of Public Affairs for the British Phonographic Industry, which represents the interests of the British recorded music industry. He is strongly involved with Make Your Mark. “It’s not a recruitment fair,” he says. “That’s one thing to be very clear about. The best outcome for me is if in five years’ time somebody sets up a label and says, ‘I didn’t think I could do this but I went to an event and speaking to people made me realise that I could’.”
Evidence shows that the campaign is already beginning to have an effect. The SBS Household Survey 2005 reports that the proportion of 16 to 24-year-olds thinking of
starting a business has risen by 22% since 2003 – compared with a growth of just 3% for all ages combined.
These findings are backed up by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2006, which reported that, in the UK, “since 2002 there does appear to be a steep
change in attitudes toward entrepreneurship, especially among the young.” GEM also reported that enterprise education, training and experiences all had a positive effect on attitudes toward enterprise. For instance, the proportion of adults thinking of starting a business increases by 100% if they received enterprise training earlier in life.
Broken down, the statistics reveal that the most popular business activity for young people is running or owning a website with commercial potential (27%, up from 22%
in 2005); others are running a sports club or activities for other people (21%, up from 17% in 2005), designing or making products for sale (20%, up from 15% in 2005),
providing a service (19%, up from 16% in 2005), retailing or trading (14% up from 11% in 2005) and running a charitable initiative (13%, up from 10% in 2005).
Patel concedes that the majority will continue to move from education into employment, picking up experience before thinking of setting out on their own. But he argues
that the evidence shows that entrepreneurs are getting younger all the time, and, if he has his way, it’s a trend that’s set to continue. “We have to work with young people,” he says, “because it’s a way of investing in the future.”
For more information visit www.makeyourmark.org.uk
