We are putting our hopes for economic revival in young entrepreneurs, so we must step up their training
Entrepreneurs are in the limelight as never before. With the UK economy starting to show signs of growth, the nation's entrepreneurs are being heralded, by the media and the coalition government, as pioneers forging a new age of prosperity. The entrepreneurs of this country have been thrust centre-stage, tasked with creating new opportunities, spearheading economic growth, and creating jobs and new markets.
But if we are serious about making this the most entrepreneurial decade in our history, we must create the conditions to help more entrepreneurs get started, as well as helping existing businesses to grow. The scale of the economic challenge means that simply sitting back and expecting the jobs to be there in future is not an option.
The key to a more entrepreneurial decade is in part about the UK becoming the best place to set up and run a business; light-touch regulation, improved access to capital and tax incentives all have a major part to play.
However, the fiscal environment or better planning laws will not be sufficient to take the British economy to the next level. The role of enterprise education – in schools, colleges and university – must be at the centre of any meaningful growth strategy. Evidence shows that enterprise education doubles the likelihood of someone starting a business.
Further education colleges are already the twin engines of entrepreneurial potential and social mobility in our country. Without the active engagement of college leaders and staff, the UK will continue to fall behind our international competitors in terms of the number of young business owners. It's a paradox that over 50% of young people say they'd like to set up in business and strike out on their own, yet fewer than one in eight currently does so. In the US, twice the number of business owners are under 35, and an advanced network of entrepreneurial community colleges there may well have something to do with it.
Two big challenges face further education colleges at a time when they are seeing budgets reduced by £1.4bn over the next few years. The first is to completely remodel the college leadership and learner experience around the notion of entrepreneurship. Of the business leaders recently polled by YouGov, as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, 70% felt that the lack of entrepreneurial experience among educators was a key reason why many people are failing to convert that spark of a business idea into reality. This observation makes a lot of sense. If institutions are not themselves entrepreneurial, how on earth can they be at the vanguard of spurring new economic growth?
The second key challenge is to ensure more students qualify with a business as well as a paper qualification. There are signs that the FE sector is rising to the challenge. The National Enterprise Academy, the brainchild of Dragons' Den entrepreneur Peter Jones, is spearheading the country's first intense courses and qualifications in entrepreneurship, producing some impressive results. There are also some impressive principals, such as Fintan Donohue of North Hertfordshire College, who has stretched his college to the limit in terms of being more entrepreneurial: students are being supported to set up in business; college facilities are being handed over at the weekend to make money; and a joint venture is under way between the college students and a car valet company.
These are just some of the tentative steps being taken to help restore our optimism. The number one challenge for any educator in the next decade is this: how do I help my students make a job, rather than just take a job?
Tom Bewick is chief executive of Enterprise UK, the campaigning body founded by the CBI, Institute of Directors, British Chambers of Commerce and the Federation of Small Businesses