Young Enterprise doubles your chances of owning your own company
Running a business at school almost doubles your chances of self-employment later in life, according to independent research by Kingston University Business School for Young Enterprise.
It shows that teenagers who get the chance to set up and run a profit-making enterprise in the classroom are almost twice as likely (42%) to become company owners than those who have not (26%), according to the new report “Impact: 50 Years of Young Enterprise.”
To compile the research Dr Rosemary Athayde conducted a series of in-depth surveys and interviews with 371 ‘alumni’ who attended Young Enterprise programmes between 1962, when the charity was founded, and now.
She compared the results with a control group of 202 people who had never been on a Young Enterprise programme, adjusting for the difference in sample size.
The study also found that the companies that Young Enterprise alumni create tend to employ more people, turn over more money, be more innovative and high-tech, and are more resilient in surviving a recession than the companies set up by those who did not experience enterprise education at school.
The key findings were:
– Young Enterprise alumni are more likely to end up running their own businesses: 42% of the alumni surveyed set up firms compared to 26% in the control group of non-alumni.
– Alumni firms have a larger turnover: 12% of the alumni firms are turning over 500,000 pounds a year compared 3% of the control group’s firms. In fact some 3% of alumni firms turn over more than 1 million pounds, compared to none among the non-alumni.
– Alumni companies employ more people: 11% have 51-99 employees compared 9% of the control group. Two per cent of the alumni have 100-249 employees compared to none in the control group.
– Alumni firms are more innovative: 21.2% of alumni firms were digital and ‘cloud’-based firms compared to 3% in control group.
– Alumni firms are more diverse: Alumni firms ranged from internet sales to advanced engineering, corrosion control and “retro” tourism. Control group firms were concentrated in fewer sectors, particularly health care and education.
– Alumni firms are more likely to be resilient: 49.6% of alumni firms said boosting sales was top priority in the downturn while only 5% opted for internal cuts.
Dr Athayde said: “The evidence presented in this report demonstrates that Young Enterprise alumni are more likely than average to run their own business; be serial entrepreneurs and show resilience in developing strategies to cope with difficult times. The businesses they run are more likely to be innovative, limited companies, employ others and have a larger turnover than the typical small firm in the UK.”
Michael Mercieca, Young Enterprise Chief Executive said: “At a time when youth unemployment remains unacceptably high, this research shows how vital it is to give young people the chance to run businesses at school. It demonstrates that Young Enterprise has, for 50 years, been an enormous engine nurturing the crucial entrepreneurial talent that Britain desperately needs to revive the economy.”
The report contains testimonies from 50 of the charity’s alumni. For a copy of the report go to: www.young-enterprise.org.uk. To find out more about volunteering with Young Enterprise please contact Madeleine Mills, Young Enterprise Manager for West Sussex, on 07894 208910 or madeleine.mills@young-enterprise.org.uk.
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