Young Enterprise: should business go back to school?

Recent research presents compelling evidence that our education system still hasn't got the business message. Mike Harrison looks at some attempts to bridge the gap.

If, as the Chancellor is constantly reminding us, the spirit of enterprise will make Britain great again, we've got a lot to worry about. Far from being world entrepreneurial leaders, we're stuck in the mediocre middle ground. In February, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor found that fewer than eight percent of people in the UK are involved in starting or running a new firm. In the USA - the home of the brave - it's almost twelve percent.

A research report published in October by BDO Stoy Hayward offers some clues. It raised concerns about the relevance of British state education to a business career. The report set about profiling 'emerging entrepreneurs', defining them as owner-managers of growing businesses with a turnover between £750K and £10 million who will run market leading companies in the future.

The report ranged widely over the problems and opportunities the entrepreneurs perceived, starting with their educational experiences. Over a third of the sample had parents who ran their own business - three times the national average. This suggests that background was much more important than education in their decision to go into business. Almost two-thirds of the respondents said that their schooling failed to contribute to their entrepreneurial spirit. And - most significant - amongst those who had been to comprehensive schools, a mere sixteen percent gave a positive rating to the benefit of their schooling to their business careers, contrasting with over half who had been to independent schools.

In a press statement launching the report, a BDO Stoy Hayward partner, Rupert Merson, said: "It's a pity that the system for those up to the age of eighteen is seen to offer so little by way of fostering some of the most critical competencies in our economy".

Some big beasts have expressed worries about the failure of education to support business. The Director General of the CBI, Digby Jones, wrote in the organisation's member magazine: "I strongly believe that children need to understand and value the world of work, to appreciate the self-discipline that a job requires, to understand profit and risk, and to acquire the skills that will equip them for today's fiercely competitive world". He blames the teaching profession for some of Britain's business woes: "Teachers must do their bit. An attitude has grown up which causes them to distrust business".

Jones is a leading light in Enterprise Insight, a new joint venture between leading business organisations including the FSB, the British Chambers of Commerce, the Confederation of British Industry, the Institute of Directors and other business bodies. The organisation claims the support of the Chancellor of the Exchequer and senior ministers and aims to co-ordinate activities for schools connecting them with business ideas and with the business community. One programme introduces a school to an entrepreneur to plan business projects or inject enterprise concepts into the curriculum. Early indications suggest both businesses and teachers welcome it.

In Scotland's new Schools Enterprise programme, groups of pupils up to 14 years old set up small business projects with help from teachers and local business people. Much of its £5 million budget goes towards training teachers in enterprise ideas. The Manager of the programme, Sarah Hall believes the benefit to pupils goes far beyond fostering future careers: "Enterprise education is of general value - not just to people who go into business. Children work on their projects in teams, their motivation improves, they have to take responsibility and show leadership, their confidence improves"

But the great-grand-daddy of education to business programmes in the UK is Young Enterprise. It started in the Sixties and now supports education from primary school to 25 plus, working with around 113,000 students a year. The mainstay of the programme is an exercise in which they start and run a company.

Young Enterprise Director, Peter Westgarth told First Voice: "The only way you learn about business is by doing it. In less than a year they start from nothing, raise share capital, come up with their product or service and, hopefully, turn in a profit before they wind up. It's as real as you can get while still in education".

Young Enterprise projects are designed to be short-term but some alumni go on to run their own firms. One of them, Serena Doshi is a dot-com millionaire. She co-founded an Internet company, Liv4now which provides a range of social internet services to young adults. At the last valuation, her share of the company was around £8 million.

Doshi's career started at fifteen with a Young Enterprise jewellery project. Now, still under thirty, she is reported as saying: "the Young Enterprise mission is to inspire and equip young people to learn and succeed through enterprise - that's exactly what it did for me".

Others have found an escape from the limitations of their background through the scheme. Sarah Hodgson came from a working class area where, she says: "Starting a business was for weirdos but Young Enterprise opened my eyes to the possibilities of a business career". At University she met another Young Enterprise student, Kingsley Jones, who introduced her to mountaineering. Today at 27 these life- and business-partners run the mountain experience company Icicle Mountaineering with offices in the UK and France.

Jones told First Voice: "Young Enterprise showed me how accessible advice is and that you can choose what you want to do. I doubt that either of us would have had the confidence to go into business without that experience".

Doshi, Jones and Hodgson are exceptional; most of the businesses careers of Young Enterprise folk are not so spectacular. However, many do find a profitable outlet for their talent and ideas. One such is the audio studio business started this year by 24-year-old Carl Greenham - a recording and publishing venture with products including talking books, tourism guides, and radio advertising. Greenham's six-month-old CMG Audio is under-capitalised - it started modestly without share capital or borrowing, using only savings - but is beginning to establish itself in its local market around Weymouth.

Greenham knows that CMG must grow to survive. Along with a two business partners, one previously a teacher of English, he has plans to market CDs with dramatised readings of classic plays and books. He says: "Audio was always a hobby. Young Enterprise gave me a chance to turn it into an occupation but I'm well aware that the next step - some expansion - will be difficult. Banks haven't shown much interest, so we shall probably have to look for sponsorship".

Whether or not he does succeed in pushing CMG to the critical mass needed for long-term stability, Greenham has undoubtedly gained by being in business. If he has to return to employment his understanding of business culture will benefit both him and employers. Giving this sort of experience to more young people could provide some of the boost the UK economy needs.

But Peter Westgarth believes it can only happen with the direct support of the business community: "The best thing business people can do in trying to change the way in which young people perceive business is to get involved with their education".

Schemes like Young Enterprise stand or fall by their ability to bring schools and business together - and the future of the economy depends to some degree on their success. It may be time for the business community to come to the aid of the country by returning to the classroom to encourage the development of their successors.

LINKS

Enterprise Insight: www.enterpriseinsight.co.uk

Schools Enterprise: www.schoolsenterprise.co.uk

Icicle Mountaineering Ltd: www.icicle-mountaineering.ltd.uk

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