The minister for business has set out a blueprint for boosting entrepreneurship as a new survey reveals that nearly half of Britons do not see starting a business as a good career choice.
Published today, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor UK 2009 found that only 48% of those polled believed entrepreneurship was a worthwhile career path, compared to an overall average of 58% in the UK’s economic group of ‘innovation-driven economies’.
Only 48% of those polled believed entrepreneurship was a worthwhile career path
The annual study, which compares entrepreneurial attitudes in 54 countries and draws on information gleaned from 180,000 interviews, also gave the UK a below-average score in terms of perceptions of the number of business opportunities, and whether enough media attention was given to entrepreneurship.
However, the UK was superior to the average for equivalent economies for fear of failure, with 32% versus an average of 34% of entrepreneurs professing to have a significant fear of failure. However, this was still higher than the US proportion of 27%.
British entrepreneurs generally perceived fewer entrepreneurial opportunities to exist than their counterparts in countries like France, Spain, Germany and Hong Kong, with 24% of Britons perceiving there to be significant opportunities compared to an average among innovation-driven economies of 28%.
The survey also showed that global entrepreneurial activity declined and entrepreneurs believed there were fewer business opportunities than 2008.
Responding to the report, the Minister for business, Mark Prisk, promised a more entrepreneurial and dynamic economy: “The coalition Government is well aware of the challenge it faces to raise enterprise awareness and start-up activity in the UK. We will meet that challenge by making this decade the most entrepreneurial and dynamic in our history.”
Mark Prisk has promised to develop “a coherent and comprehensive strategy for enterprise” incorporating the following:
1. Challenging aspirations and capability
Embedding enterprise awareness and business management skills into mainstream education; schools, FE colleges and HE institutions.
2. Modernising business support
Ensuring the support, information and advice provided to businesses is fit for the 21st century.
3. Supporting cash flow and access to finance
Ensuring individuals and businesses have the skills, tools and networks they need to understand the options and to access finance and that Government identifies and addresses market failures.
4. Reducing burdens
Making it easier to start and grow a business by delivering long-term certainty and stability in the tax system, and pushing ahead with the promise to reduce regulation.
5. Transforming opportunities for individuals and their communities
A radical change in the support offered to workless people through Work for Yourself and providing access to mentors and small loans for the most disadvantaged.”
