Leading from the front

More mentors and enterprise education are needed to nurture a new generation of entrepreneurs, say UK business leaders

UK business leaders believe more mentors and enterprise education in schools are key to nurturing a new generation of young entrepreneurs, according to an Aldridge Foundation survey.
 
The Origins of an Entrepreneur survey questioned 370 men and women who have successfully started and still run their own businesses. It asked them about their educational, socio-economic and family backgrounds and asked what more could be done to encourage young people to become entrepreneurs:
• 21 per cent say we need more business mentors; 
• 20 per cent say schools need to offer more enterprise education;
• 17 per cent say we need to overcome a cultural fear of failure;
• 14 per cent say offer free business advice;
• 13 per cent say access to start up funding;
• 10 per cent say business networking opportunities; and
•  5 per cent say other.

The survey was conducted by the Aldridge Foundation, an education charity set up by Rod Aldridge, founder of Capita Group PLC. The foundation sponsors two community academies with an entrepreneurship specialism whose school buildings include entrepreneurship hubs with facilities for community start-up business. It seeks to provide a bridge between the business world and education.

Rod Aldridge says: “There is an urgent need to support young entrepreneurs who are struggling in this recession. They need experienced business people to give them mentoring support to help them adapt and survive. In addition, if we want UK plc to come out of this recession with a pool of entrepreneurial talent, we need to instil resilience and an entrepreneurial mindset among school children that can only be learned from real business.

”There is clearly a willingness from the business world to offer help but we need to find a way to connect them with young entrepreneurs and schools. Whether we create a national database of mentors or find another practical mechanism, we must address this need now.”

This call is backed by leading UK entrepreneurs in the survey, including Laura Tenison MBE, founder and MD of JoJo Maman Bebe, Will King, CEO of King of Shaves, Glen Manchester CEO of Thunderhead, and Jane Dyson, founder of The Network.

Laura Tenison, who gives inspiring talks to schools in disadvantaged areas, says: "It is essential to get kids enthused about business when they're young... being a role model is a rewarding experience but it is also part of our CSR. If other ethical business people gave a little of their time to inspire or mentor students the impact could be amazing!"
The entrepreneurs also believe that schools can help overcome the UK’s cultural fear of failure by instilling resilience and teaching enterprise using real life examples.

Will King, founder of King of Shaves and winner of the Growing Business Awards Company of the Year in 2008, says: “The government needs to provide the mentoring to allow young people to experience real business practice. In America, failure is a big part of the entrepreneurial experience. In the UK, it’s frowned upon. There needs to be room for trial and error.”

Jane Dyson, a winner of the First Women Award and founder of field marketing agency The Network, says: "Let's change attitudes towards failure and teach young people that it is possible to do it for yourself."

Young entrepreneurs in the survey say mentoring was key to their success and failure should be viewed as an opportunity to learn.

For more information, visit www.aldridgefoundation.com.

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