Don’t worry if you’re not creative, you still might be the future leader of one of tomorrow’s most successful companies – but make sure you’re environmentally aware.
Orange has identified the characteristics shared by Britain’s most successful privately-owned small and medium companies – or ‘Super SMEs’ – as part of its ongoing 'Entreprenation' campaign, which examines entrepreneurialism across the UK.
By researching the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 and Tech Track 100, which rank the top 100 fastest-growing private companies and private tech companies respectively, the mobile phone provider has identified the characteristics conducive to running a successful business:
- Good communication skills
- Keeping up with and using new innovations to their advantage
- Being well connected
- Significant online presence
- Environmentally aware and sympathetic
The recent Orange Entreprenation report undertaken with YouGov examined the profile, location and key drivers behind entrepreneurialism in the UK. Half of respondents named good communication skills as key to being a successful entrepreneur, 38% cited keeping up with and using new innovations as pivotal and 29% identified being ‘well connected’ as vital.
The report also investigated the more established successful small and medium UK companies. Examining how much and how successfully they harnessed social media, Orange found that 75% of companies either had a medium or significant online presence. The research also found that while London still dominates as a hotspot of entrepreneurial activity with 39% of companies based there, the South West, namely cities such as Bristol and Bath, is performing strongly with more than one in 10 (13%) enterprises operating in the region.
Despite creativity typically thought of as an entrepreneurial trait, many business leaders professed to not being particularly creative. To compensate for their perceived shortcomings, said some, they surrounded themselves with creative talent.
Martin Lyne, director of small and medium business at Orange UK, says: “Whether based in a rural hamlet or a major city, it’s clear that high flying ‘Super SMEs’ and more importantly, the entrepreneur who established them, share key characteristics. For instance, a desire to keep abreast of the latest innovations and technologies has given budding entrepreneurs access to new tools to help run their businesses.
“Presence on social networking sites for example now provide start-ups with access to new contacts, new ways of thinking and new customers, which formally would have been difficult to attain.
“However, being tech-savvy is not the only measure of success. To be one of the best innovators in the UK, the Entreprenation report has told us that a strong sense of passion for their business, and an ability to communicate this to others, is equally key to making a business successful.”
Miles Templeman, director general at the Institute of Directors (IoD), says: “In the course of my work at the IoD I meet many people trying to build up companies – often from scratch – and I’m always struck at how the most successful are usually great communicators who convey a passion and enthusiasm for their business which is infectious.”
