The blogs under the “Enterprise Education” (ENTED) category explore how entrepreneurship education can systematically build capability—from initial exposure to full venture creation—embedded within higher education and professional development contexts. They examine the mapping of national occupational standards (NOS) to a tiered apprenticeship framework (Levels 4, 6 and 7) for starting, growing and scaling a business. The posts highlight how curriculum, mentorship, and experiential learning align to real-world entrepreneurial activity, emphasising applied project work, reflective practice and ecosystem engagement. They also discuss how institutions can move beyond traditional pedagogy to design programmes that produce entrepreneurs—not just business-courses graduates—with attention to access, progression and measurable outcomes. The overarching theme is that enterprise education must be purposeful, progressively scaffolded, and aligned with the entrepreneurial lifecycle, to support sustainable venture development and entrepreneurial capacity building.
There is a diversity of approaches to enterprise and entrepreneurship education (EEE) across the United Kingdom. Three of the four nations: Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have all developed and implemented strategies encouraging enterprise and entrepreneurship education, England remains unique for its failure to develop a specific policy for education at all levels.
In a recent 2022 report by the APPG Entrepreneurship (here), they reported that “England remains one of the few places in Europe that has yet to develop a specific entrepreneurship education strategy for schools“.
My own research (here) has shown that enterprise and entrepreneurship education in Wales is paying off with direct relationships between these interventions and economic development. Wales has implemented a strategy since the early 2000s with the ‘Youth Enterprise Strategy’ (YES) and covers 5–25 year-olds. The stated objective of the strategy was to “develop and nurture self-sufficient, entrepreneurial young people in all communities across Wales, who will contribute positively to economic and social success.”
This investigation showed, for the first time, that it is possible to draw linkages between the outputs generated by some of the EEE activity in universities and key regional development indicators. Across the regions we found that EEE activity in HEIs appears to have a direct impact on business creation and GDP, the latter point echoing more general trends observed by Schubert and Kroll (2014) and Pastor et al. (2018). Furthermore, we were able to use several different indicators to infer a relationship between the nature and/or quality of provision and graduate start-up activity. That said, we also found numerous trends which we could not fully explain through the data, all of which need further research attention.
However what is important is that Koryak et al. (2015) suggests that there exists a deficiency within a substantial proportion of UKs SME in relation to entrepreneurship skills. This is therefore constraining business growth, international trade and product innovation.
Enterprise and entrepreneurship education is not just for those who want to start a new business, it’s for enabling the next generation to be more flexible. In a world where Covid, MonkeyPox and Polio are all reported to be in London, Brexit, international supply chains are rapidly changing, inflation, recession and we again have a war in Europe….I think the resilience which enterprising and entrepreneurial skills provided is now core to supporting this next generation to cope on a daily basis.
The action need is that Enterprise and Entrepreneurship should be part of the core curriculum for all students from 4 to 24 years old and it should be clear what resources will and should be made available.
The way we start businesses is changing and through academic research, additional knowledge, skills and tools, the process and issues around growing businesses have profoundly changed Entrepreneurship in the last twenty years. This article develops a new 9 Stages of Enterprise Creation model which is based on today entrepreneurial mindset and the business community ecosystem which molds entrepreneurs and allows their ventures grow.
The first three stages of the Enterprise Creation stages which emerged are: Discovery, Modeling, and Startup which form the new venture formation stages. The next three Existence , Survival and Success develop the business into a sustainable business entity. The last three stages: Adaption, Independence and Exit provide the entrepreneurship pathways for the entrepreneur. These final elements complete the entrepreneurship model by focusing on the success of the business, how the entrepreneur progresses beyond the business, their separation into different entities and the entrepreneurs eventual exit. The 9 Stages of Enterprise Creation are set out below:
Stage 1 – Discovery
This first stage of the 9 Stages of Enterprise Creation is centred around the focal competency of Opportunity recognition, creation and evaluation. These are the processes by which entrepreneurs identify and evaluate potential new business opportunities. An opportunity by definition is a favorable set of circumstances which creates a need for a new product, business, or service. Opportunity recognition is the process by which the entrepreneur comes up with a prospective idea for a new venture. Evaluating the opportunity takes research, exploration, and understanding of current needs, demands, and trends from consumers and others. The process of researching and surveying allows the product or service idea to develop, so that it can be modelled.
Stage 2 – Modeling
The second stage is about developing the business logic to create a business model. This is split into three parts and starts by setting out a Strategy, formulating a business model and setting the business processes to achieve the strategy . These form the key elements for the plan to start the business and, are an integral piece of submitting any proposal for an entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial business. The model should be underpinned by the resources available and those which may still need to be secured. Resource allocation and availability are extremely important to startups because sustainability and profit (not loss) depend on proper planning and understanding of the internal and external environments.
Stage 3 – Startup
The fourth stage is starting the enterprise. Once the resources detailed in the business plan are mobilised the entrepreneurial process can be effected and implementation can take place. In this stage the business may be trading or begin to research or develop a product. The aim of this stage is to have the processes in place so that the business can have a scalable, repeatable and profitable business focused on distinct customers within an identified market.
Stage 4 – Existence
At this stage the business has two core focuses; to gain enough customers to create a profitable business and, at the same time establishing production or product quality. The majority of businesses fail at this stage due, in part, to either one or both of these factors. At this stage the organisation is a simple one, the entrepreneur does everything and directly supervises subordinates, who should be of at least average competence. Systems and formal planning are minimal to nonexistent. The company’s strategy is simply to remain alive which requires the focal competency of tolerance of uncertainty, risk and failure
Stage 5 – Survival
At this stage the business should be a viable entity in terms of cash flow and resources, it has enough customers and satisfies them sufficiently with its products or services to gain repeat sales. The organisation is still simple. The company may have a limited number of employees supervised by a junior manager or supervisor. Neither of them makes major decisions independently, but instead carries out the rather well-defined orders of the entrepreneur. Formal planning is, at best, cash forecasting. The major goal is still survival, and the entrepreneur is still synonymous with the business. The entrepreneur starts to implement ideas through leadership and management which provides opportunities to scale.
Stage 6 – Success
Entrepreneurs at this point of the 9 Stages of Enterprise Creation have a number of options: capitalise on the company’s accomplishments, expand or, keep the company stable and profitable. The entrepreneur has a number of ways to capitalise, from exit to taking a ‘founders dividend’ from the business. If the entrepreneur want to expand then the core tasks are to make sure the basic organisation stays profitable so that it will not outrun its source of cash and, to develop managers to meet the needs of the growing organisation. Through the entrepreneurs leadership all managers within the business should now identify with the company’s future opportunities rather than its current condition demonstrating a success to its stakeholders.
Stage 7 – Adaptation
Businesses which reach this stage normally have a number of factors pushing them to adapt, these are normally grounded in changes either to the micro or macro environments. Businesses at this stage will normally be entering a phase of rapid change and will have to have secured the required finances to develop. At this point key management is in place with a set of operational systems. Operational and strategic planning are now a key focus. The organisation is decentralised and, at least in part, divisionalised. The key managers must be very competent to handle a growing and complex business environment. The systems, strained by growth, are becoming more refined and extensive. Both operational and strategic planning are being done and involve specific managers. The entrepreneur and the business have become reasonably separate, yet the company is still dominated by both the entrepreneur’s presence and stock control.
Stage 8 – Independence
A business at this stage should now has the advantages of size, financial resources, market share and managerial talent. Innovation and Intrapreneurship are now key factors in keeping the business in market position. The organisation has the staff and financial resources to engage in detailed operational and strategic planning. The management is decentralised, adequately staffed, and experienced. Business systems are extensive and well developed. The entrepreneur and the business are quite separate, both financially and operationally.
Stage 9 – Exit
The last of the Enterprise Creation stages is focused on exiting the business and making their separation permanent. An exit strategy will give the entrepreneur a way to reduce or eliminate their stake in the business and, if the business is successful, make a substantial profit. This stage removes the entrepreneur from primary ownership and decision-making structure of the business. Common types of exit strategies include Initial Public Offerings (IPO), strategic acquisitions and management buyouts. The organisation at this stage is generally profitable, has a definable set of resources with a clear and realistic strategy to continue. The CEO and founder(s) are separate.
9 stages of Enterprise Creation
The full paper which develops the 9 Stages of Enterprise Creation: Bozward, David and Rogers-Draycott, Matthew Charles (2017) Developing a Staged Competency Based Approach to Enterprise Creation. Proceedings of the International Conference for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Regional Development. ISSN 2411-5320, can be found at http://eprints.worc.ac.uk/5377/
A textbook that supports learning with multiple case studies is available on Amazon.
After working with over 20,000 students in the last ten years, I have started to stereotype those coming through into five simple student entrepreneur categories. There is no real theory and a great amount of research here, but I just wanted to share my thoughts and observations on these student entrepreneurs.
Wanta-preneur
This group of people want to mega rich, famous and of course a owner of a super big business. They just want it all! Yet hard work, planning and dedication to entrepreneurship is not at the core of their motivations. They sometimes do start businesses, normally with co-founders who do all the work, while they talk about their business, the people they know and the mega plans they have.
Pros : Great talker who other may believe
Cons : Lacks hard work and dedication
Business-Anarchistic-preneur
Staying the same is not an option, so these people think of distributive technology, business models and taking all the biggest businesses, traditional methods and societies. They know that they will succeed as its only there ability to change the world that will save it.
Pros : Out of the box thinking
Cons : Others don’t take them seriously, just too radical
Social Entrepreneur
This group not only want to start a business but one that helps others. They have great amounts of passion, dedication and drive to see this business idea into a fully developed business. These people understand the need to develop others, work in teams and share the value of their business with as many people as possible.
Pros : A Team player
Cons : Takes too long as brings too many people with them
Geek-preneur
The richest people are Geeks, so why not start the the next Microsoft, Apple or Facebook. These people can make technology work for them and create small dynamic businesses which engage users throughout the world in their dream creation.
Pros : Easy to start boot strapped business
Cons : Lacks people skills to engage others
Just-do-It-preneur
This group just get on with it, never thinking for one moment they can’t. What they lack in skills, knowledge and network, they balance with the shear determination and brut force. They are the bull in the china shop style of entrepreneurship.
Pros : Self belief and determination to make it a success
Cons : Lacks style and skills which makes others believe
As with all people and businesses it about having the team, a set of skills and maybe every business should have a mix of these.
When I look at the process of creating a new venture, I often see people forget some of the basic elements in the process of developing a business plan.
The first three steps are:
Opportunity discovery,
Business modelling
Business planning
Opportunity Discovery
The best idea is the one which provides the best business opportunity. Therefore we are not looking for any idea but an idea which provides the best opportunity.
Therefore the process of ideation captures the current industry trends and the competitor in and around them. The technology innovation currently applied to this market and the outlook we see in terms of costs and market adoption trends.
The creative problem solving can not sit in isolation and needs to be surrounded by the context for it to be applied to create an outstanding value proposition later on.
Business Modelling
For most people this is filling out the Business Model Canvas, a tools which provides a powerful view of the business model. But again this is completed in isolation within a full understanding the ecosystem, actors and their behaviours.
The process of modelling is about understanding the relationship between the key actors within the ecosystem, it doesn’t matter if its designing a new road bridge, a tv or a new products. This dynamic relationship is so important in understanding the processes and metrics to be put in place to plan the business.
Business Planning
The core aspects of Business Planning are risk analysis, scenario planning and financial planning. Once these are done the rest, include product design, marketing strategy and operations are secondary.
All investors want to know you can manage this risk and act accordingly.
The process of developing a business plan are about understanding the dynamic relationship and how to mitigate the risks they pose to your business. Its not an exercise in writing or filling out the right amount of words in the right sections.
The process of developing a business plan is simple yet so many people get it wrong. Just remember to understand the dynamic nature of business and that your business startup will be connected with these and therefore needs to adjust to maintain a successful course through the early years.
When starting out, you only seem to have costs and they keep coming in. The five set of fees are:
Office space
Utilities
Incorporating and legal fees
Accounting costs for the first year in business
Payroll for employees
So one of the main costs is office space and if we can reduce that we can survive for longer and hopefully last until we start making more money than we spend.
Run your startup business from home. This won’t work for every business, but if it will work for yours it can save you a pile of cash on utilities and rent.
Coffee Shop’s are happy to have you and have good wifi. You also get to meet like minded people and can invite people for meetings in the coffee shop.
Look out for a business incubator which helps startups by providing them space, mentors and events. These are normally free for a set period.
Spare desk in someone else’s office. A lot of businesses have space and if you can use one or two desks in return for some form of payment, even your manpower it will be cheaper and more flexible.
Find a co-working space where you can rent space as-needed for much less than the cost of a traditional commercial office which is normally looking for 3-5 years.
Just remember when looking for office space its “Location, location, location.” , which drives home just how important location is when choosing a space for your startup business.
The Millennials are making the career choice of being an entrepreneur.
Promoting entrepreneurship as a viable career option and supporting self-employment on an higher educational campus has both community and economic relevance. The role of higher educational campuses to nurture and develop the entrepreneurial and innovative talent is foundation to creating the next generation within our community. The trend is for millennial University students to be empowered to come out of university with an understanding of entrepreneurship, with a view that these skills and knowledge allow them to make informed life choices.
Millennial Entrepreneurs
Our Millennial Entrepreneurs understand how to start new businesses and take on the risk and rewards of being an founder. Entrepreneurs are the dreamers who are fuelled by the desire to pioneer, lead, innovate and invent disruptive technologies and products. The tech savvy millennial wants to work the way then want, the hours they want make the opportunities they want.
In the 1980s we saw a massive increase in self employed and now their children are following the footsteps or the desire of their parents and opted for a career that was decided by their elders. However, the opening up of the world economy during the 1990’s and the great advances in tech field has had far reaching impact on the way business was done world over.
Millennial Entrepreneurs Motivation
These momentous changes are opening up new business creation tools and unexplored business models for the young and ambitious who were not satisfied being put in a single career for their entire life. Young people are drawn towards entrepreneurship because:
The desire to be their own boss and have better control
The motivation to take risks in the changed global environment where unexplored new opportunities were present
The ambition to develop and execute a plan right from the ground level
The aim to do well financially and take their growth trajectory to unprecedented level
New Venture Creation (NVC) Programmes are available to equip nascent entrepreneurs with the skills necessary to start a scalable business. These university degrees have been developed by entrepreneurs to support Millennial Entrepreneurs on the entrepreneurial journey, and to develop the entrepreneur within alongside an in-depth understanding of how to start and run a business.
Students will be in a class with like-minded Millennial Entrepreneurs developing a strong network of entrepreneurs. Throughout the degree, the focus will progressively move from entrepreneurial mindset, creativity, venture feasibility and marketing, to business operations, stakeholder communications, sales and growth strategies.
When starting a business, we all come at from different directions, at different ages, different backgrounds. There are so many skills required to run your own startup. Successful Entrepreneur skills, are the ones you’ll need to run everything from serving customers to preparing your accounts. Below are listed 13 core skills required in running a startup business and how you might develop your core skill set further. The successful Entrepreneur skills are:
Opportunity Recognition – The recognition of new markets and opportunities, such as a new customers’ need is core to becoming a successful entrepreneur.
Ideation – Ideation is the creative process of generating, developing, and communicating new ideas. Always write your ideas down in a book and come back to them when you can do something about it.
Research & Analysis – This involves both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. Understanding the customers, competitors and costs structure are important in making a startup work.
Resources Identification – Working out the resource requirements then leads to determining what types of resources you will need to start-up and operate your startup.
Risk Analysis – This process of defining and analysing the dangers to your startup business posed by potential natural and human-caused events.
Tactical Planning – As a startup the horizon is low, so focus on this process of outlining business plans for the coming year. This differs from strategic planning as strategic planning encompasses longer-term goals that reflect the company’s direction and its purpose outlined in its mission statement.
Operational Design – Operational design is the first level of strategy implementation and rests upon operational art. This cognitive approach uses your skill, knowledge, experience, creativity, and judgment to develop operations to organise and employ the resources available.
Business Modelling – A business model is the map of how a startup generates revenue and makes a profit from its value proposition. From this a business plan and processes may be derived.
Cash Flow – In the early days of a business maintaining a healthy cash level, liquidity ensure the business survives. Cash is king.
Team Building – As a new business building a team is important, which requires various types of activities used to enhance social relations and define roles within team are developed and maintained.
Branding – Branding is one of the most important aspects of any business, it develops you icon and a connection with your suppliers, customers and financial stakeholders.
Marketing – The communications of you value proposition should generate leads which can be turned into sales.
Negotiating & Selling – Getting the right prices from your suppliers and selling at the right price is fundamental for a startup to grow. These skills go hand in hand together.
As an entrepreneur we have lots of do, but sometimes we just do it wrong, we let obstacles get in our way. So what are the typical obstacles we entrepreneurs have to deal with:
Perfectionism – For entrepreneurs, practice doesn’t make perfect; action does. You simply cannot wait until you are 100 percent ready before you take action. Think MVP.
Procrastination – Sometimes its easier to delay the decision, the action or even dealing with the problem, so each day “Eat the Frog” and take action of the real issues within your business.
Fear – Entrepreneurs’ resolve is tested from the very first step of starting a business. In fact, one entrepreneur compared starting a business to jumping off a cliff and assembling your parachute on the way down.
Worry – As an entrepreneur, worry comes with the territory. In fact, over a third of entrepreneurs told Gallup they worried a lot about yesterday. While worry is a quotidian experience, it is not productive. You have to make peace with the things that concern you, and not let them stop you from taking action and pursuing your dreams.
Financing – Experienced entrepreneurs don’t have it easy when it comes to funding a new business, but they do have a few advantages over newcomers. They might have a pool of capital from a business they previously sold or a steady stream of revenue they can use to fund a new business’s cash flow.
Team building – This is especially hard if you’ve never run or managed a team before, but even if you have management experience, picking the right team for a startup is stressful and difficult. It’s not enough to find candidates who fill certain roles — you also need to consider their cost to the business, their culture fit and how they’ll work as part of your overall team. Such considerations are exceptionally hard when you’re under the pressure of filling those positions as soon as possible.
Decision-making – Believe it or not, this is probably the most stressful challenge on this list. New entrepreneurs are forced to make hundreds of decisions a day, from big, company-impacting decisions, to tiny, hour-affecting ones. Decision fatigue is a real phenomenon, and most new entrepreneurs will experience it if they aren’t prepared for the new level of stress.
In the last year I have had the amazing opportunity to design a venture creation BA (Hons) Entrepreneurship Programme which is oriented towards students who wish to combine study towards an honours degree with the opportunity to start their own business in a supported environment with guidance from specialist lecturers, practising entrepreneurs and mentors. Over the years I have seen many programmes and wanted to create something for Entrepreneurs, the student and for practitioners.
This is a practice-oriented degree, which focuses on the development of the students’ entrepreneurial effectiveness. This is achieved by embracing the concept of ‘learning by doing’ which ensures students are acquiring real knowledge and practical expertise to support their business start-up and business growth aspirations. There is a focus on real business experiences including master classes, enterprise events and interactions with local and global entrepreneurs. This philosophy is extended within the assessment primarily for (rather than ‘of’) learning Entrepreneurship (QAA (2012) Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Education: Guidance for UK Higher Education Providers, pp9).
Similarly, although there is an inherent emphasis on learning within the learner’s own start-up venture, the Entrepreneurship skills acquired will be transferable to other business environments and learning opportunities.
This BA (Hons) Entrepreneurship Programme aligns with the nation and international government agenda (The Impact and Effectiveness of Entrepreneurship Policy, NESTA 2013) and seeks to increase the number of entrepreneurs in the economy.
A range of teaching pedagogies are adopted to ensure the curriculum enhances the learning of all students both in the startup and in group learning environments. In addition to lectures, seminars, videos, podcasts, presentations and visiting entrepreneurs, students will participate in action learning sets and interactive activities to apply learning from businesses experiences in their startup. These approaches are intended to take into account the principles of inclusivity: the types of learner, their startup business, their prior experience and expectations and how they learn and will be supported to learn effectively.
Given the focus on developing a continued learning environment in which students develop an entrepreneurial mindset, there is an emphasis within the BA (Hons) Entrepreneurship Programme on tutoring and mentoring to support individual requirements, and also to reflect (at a meta-cognitive level) on their learning process. The programme is supported by more than 10 Entrepreneurs in Residence, regional business support agencies and local businesses.
When Setting Objectives when Starting up a Business you should always use SMART objectives -the most well known method for setting objectives. S.M.A.R.T refers to the acronym that describes the key characteristics of meaningful objectives, which are:
Specific
WHAT am I going to do?
WHY is this important for me to do?
WHO is going to do what? Who else need to be involved?
WHEN do I want this to be completed?
HOW am I going to do this?
Measureable
How do I know when I have done it?
Can these measurements be obtained?
What are the numbers, quantity, comparisons?
Achievable
Can we get it done in the proposed timeframe?
Do I understand the limitations and constraints?
Can we do this with the resources we have?
Has anyone else done this successfully?
Is this possible?
Realistic
Do you have the resources available to achieve this objective?
Do I need to revisit priorities in my life to make this happen?
Is it possible to achieve this objective?
Time-Bound
When will this objective be accomplished?
Is there a stated deadline? (a defined time line)
Setting Goals Summary
Remember what gets measured gets done, so write your goals down, share them constantly with those who can help, are part of the goal and your team. Keep refining your goals to ensure achievable. If necessary, split goals down into achievable tasks.
