With youth unemployment remaining a key issue standing between the UK and full economic recovery, getting young people into the workforce has become a major target for the government. However, with experienced workers often choosing to remain in work past the age of retirement for financial reasons, encouraging employers to take on those with little experience can be tricky.
This has led to a wave of young entrepreneurs choosing instead to become self-employed by launching their own business start-ups, often learning the key skills of business by doing rather than observing. Unfortunately, according to a new report jointly published by RBS initiative “Inspiring Enterprise” and the RSA, young entrepreneurs are simply not getting the support they need in order to make their venture a success.
The Manifesto for Youth Enterprise cites the belief that parents, teachers and enterprise support groups could improve a young person’s chances of business success by working from an early age to instil ideas and abilities. This could be done through a number of initiatives, from using social media and introducing a teaching programme to helping young people with funding and business planning upon starting out in the business world.
Adviser on Enterprise to the Prime Minister, Lord Young, supported the steps recommended in the Manifesto and agreed that a higher quality of support is needed.
He said; “Raising levels of aspiration among young people, and giving them the confidence to work for themselves, has been a key priority of mine – I know the Prime Minister shares this view.
“Support needs to start at a young age in schools and colleges, and continue right the way through to higher education where students can gain inspiration and access to practical help to be their own boss.
“The UK is the best place in the world to start and grow a business, and if young people want to take that step we need to make sure they have every chance available to them.”
RBS and the RSA conducted research for the Manifesto by polling more than 120 young entrepreneurs to discover what barriers they had come up against when looking to start their own firm or venture. Furthermore, they examined statistics published recently by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor in order to achieve the aim of helping 100,000 young people realise their potential as an entrepreneur by 2015.
At present, the UK falls short of young entrepreneurship numbers achieved by countries such as Germany, France and the United States – in the US, for example, one in seven young people are currently starting out on a business venture, compared to only one in 17 here in the UK. The Manifesto states that encouraging larger businesses and local authorities to work with young entrepreneurs, by offering contracts or incorporating manufacturers into their supply chain for example, the success rate of such ventures would increase and thus make entrepreneurship more accessible for young people.
With shows such as Dragon’s Den becoming ever more popular and exposing young people to the inner workings of the business world, entrepreneurship has been shown to be a profitable and enjoyable route into the business world. It is now simply a case of finding the best ways to support budding businesses so they can in future strengthen the UK economy in turn.
Do you think entrepreneurship has a place in the school curriculum?
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