“I carried out a research project in 2011 and found that Coronation Street had more of an entrepreneurial influence on young people than ‘business reality’ shows. I think Chesney was starting his own business at the time,” smiles Mark Hart, professor of small business and entrepreneurship at Aston Business School, part of Aston University in Birmingham. “They don’t make people want to start a business, but at least they get people using the ‘E’ word.”
Hart is academic lead and director of the school’s involvement in Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses programme, a partnership between the investment bank and Aston Business School, Leeds University Business School, Manchester Metropolitan University Business School, UCL and Saïd Business School (University of Oxford). Launched in 2010 and designed by experts, the programme provides high quality education and support to UK small business owners wanting to scale up. Hart is also deputy director of the new national Enterprise Research Centre, which focuses on small business growth.
Experience matters
Hart is a firm believer that entrepreneurship should have a place in UK schools. “It should start in junior schools; if pupils are 16, it’s too late,” he argues. “Throughout the school year, younger business owners should be brought in to share their knowledge – teachers don’t have that practical enterprise experience. Head teachers and business support organisations should work together to make that happen.
“A ‘light touch’ is all that’s required, but we need to get words such as ‘business’ and ‘entrepreneurship’ into young people’s lexicon. Why shouldn’t junior school kids learn about running a business? Make it part of their learning – but not in an examinable way. Just get local business owners into schools to talk about what they do.”
Tom Ravenscroft is managing director of Bethnal Green-headquartered Enabling Enterprise, an award winning not-for-profit social enterprise he set up with fellow teachers in 2009. In five years it has grown from one classroom to reaching out to more than 35,000 young people last year.
“We develop their enterprise skills, work experience and aspirations to succeed – whether they want to become entrepreneurs or not. Their age range is five to 18. Including regular enterprise learning is the best way to encourage them to learn key skills such as teamwork, leadership, organisation and communication. You wouldn’t expect them to learn how to read by occasionally picking up a book.”
Challenging misconceptions
Ravenscroft acknowledges a marked growth in entrepreneurial interest among young people, maybe partly as a consequence of depressingly high youth unemployment in recent years.
“One interesting phenomenon is the rise in interest in social entrepreneurship,” he reveals. “The prospect of doing something that benefits their community or addresses a social need appeals to many young people. The internet is also a key enabler for young people who want to start their own business, because it can reduce startup costs substantially.”
But some entrepreneurial misconceptions remain, says Ravenscroft. “Some young people believe it costs loads of money to start a business when costs can be minimal, which also means they don’t need funding. Others believe that entrepreneurship is the route to either riches or ruin. Some entrepreneurs do become extremely rich and some fail, but, in truth, most are somewhere in between.”
Similar misconceptions are evident on campus, says Hart. “Some students believe they’re going to get rich quick, but only 4% of startups achieve a million pound turnover after three years, and the failure rate remains high. Many students generate fantastic ideas, but translating them into a profitable, sustainable business – that’s a different story. The big challenge isn’t starting a business – it’s sustaining and scaling it.”
Small Business Charter
According to Hart, “very little progress” had been made since the Enterprise in Higher Education initiative launched in 1992. “Some universities are still trying to get to grips with how best to teach entrepreneurship. There are other issues, for example, some students are so focused on passing exams and getting at least a 2:1 that they don’t fully realise the importance of gaining knowledge that can help them in their careers.”
Hart has been working with Lord Young to develop the Small Business Charter, which will enable sharing of best practice among universities, who will achieve the standard “if they can demonstrate they’re adding significant value for students,” he explains. “As well as starting up, it’s about scaling a business too, giving them knowledge they can also take into employed roles. Too often, entrepreneurial education focuses on startups, but the UK doesn’t have a startup problem – we have a growth problem, among businesses of all sizes. We need graduates to be entrepreneurial, even if they’re working for a large corporate.”
As research by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (Hart manages its UK national team) shows, UK startup rates are higher than in France and Germany, but still some way behind the USA. “Many more young people are interested in entrepreneurship than before – partly as a result of improved education – but it’s going to take at least a generation for more significant growth.”
Growing awareness
As Hart reminds us, half of all new businesses fail within three years and 90% are gone within 10 years. “Students must be taught how to tackle challenges after the startup phase. Bringing in experienced business people who’ve ‘been there and done that’ can help them. We must connect students to the real business world – we can’t rely on textbooks and business theory.”
Thanks to the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses UK programme, owners of growing small businesses can access high quality leadership and management education, which they can use to scale more successfully. Hart explains: “We add value and help to accelerate their growth – growth is the key. They get so much from the programme that they’re only too willing to give something back, so I get them to speak to our students. Some even become mentors when our students set up their own businesses. It’s great for both parties and something that should become commonplace in universities throughout the UK,” he concludes.
Content on this page is paid for and produced to a brief agreed with Goldman Sachs, sponsor of the Entrepreneur Stories hub.
