Dr David Bozward

Category: Enterprise Education

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.

  • Selecting the Correct Startup Mentor

    Selecting the Correct Startup Mentor

    Introduction

    Our experience has highlighted the matching of mentor/mentee pairs as the most important factor in the success or otherwise of effective mentoring. Every person who starts a business should have at least one mentor, these people are there to a devil’s advocate and support in development of the business. They are not business advisers or life coaches and therefore are not making decision for the business owner. The business owner is 100% responsible for their own actions.  We would typically assign at least two mentors based on the following criteria. The two mentors would be from separate criteria to ensure we provided diverse mentoring support.

    Key Criteria

    • Methods of Working
    • Sector Knowledge
    • Area of Expertise
    • Stage of Business
    • Location Network
    • Peer or Near Peer Mentors

    Methods of Working

    Both parties should have expectations and they should set out the process they will follow in dealing with each other. When will they contact each other? What is the communication medium SMS, Email, Telephone or Face to Face, What response time will the other person provide? When is out of hours? What support will they get and what is expected from the mentee? Use the GROW model for mentoring sessions.

    Sector Knowledge

    Many people want someone to mentor them who has already done it. Someone in the same industry has the network contact to help them move forward faster. They may be diversifying into a new sector and need introductions. The approach that mentors take within a business sector will also have to been taken into account. We find this is one of the fastest ways to develop the mentee’s understanding of the benefits of mentoring.

    Area of Expertise

    People starting a business may require help with one field, e.g. sources of finance, marketing, IPR, logistics, operations, sales, office, international sales, production, TAX, bookkeeping, website SEO, etc. This field will require mentoring over period of time when the mentor is no longer required and another mentor can be assigned to deal with their new needs.

    Stage of Business

    Our mentoring solution works on a six stage business growth model which is detailed in Appendix A.  It is particularly important to ensure that the mentors understand the importance and nature of each stage and do not jump into suggesting solutions before they have fully appreciated the context and needs of their mentees.

    In moving the business forward, the better the foundations within the early stages the better the business opportunities in the later stages. Therefore having specialist mentors for these stages provides the best results.

    Location Network

    One of the core resources needed to grow a business is access to a network of like minded people who may be customers, competitors, investors or collaborators and a mentors can be the fastest way of accessing this network. We also find that certain industries have a culture that lends itself to a sustainable network of experts who are willing to ‘put something back’ into the system in the form of mentoring, such a lawyers, accountants and educators.

    Peer or Near Peer Mentors

    Peer-based activity is regarded as the best way to transfer tacit knowledge critical to business success. This is a very powerful and meaningful proposition in a entrepreneurial social context with the opportunity to develop a sustained and long term relationship.

     

  • Enterprise in the Community

    Enterprise in the Community

    Entrepreneurship doesn’t happen in isolation. Think about it, its true. So why do Universities think they can create entrepreneurs without developing a sustainable community around them. So what is best practice from universes in the UK?

    Network of Entrepreneurs – Open the doors and get all who start and own businesses to bring their networks into the university and also get those startups to go out into the network of local entrepreneurs. This open door policy helps reduce costs but also helps foster stronger links between those starting a business and those who have strong businesses.

    Mentors – The vast majority of entrepreneurs will mentor a student or graduate who is looking to start a business. However you should be provide training, support and knowledge enhancement for these mentors. How and what is mentoring, when should I do it and what should a say, how far can I go in forcing them to do something? Once you set the ground rules and provide clear guidance they are a great resource. Its about giving before taking.

    Local Customer – A lot of startups think global sales without seeing that just outside the university there are thousand of customers. The fact is the global and local customer are the same distance from them, about a million miles. By bringing local customers to the university and the startups you build a customer base who will provide feedback, cash and support to these startup business.

    Fail Safe – The majority of startups will fail within the first 2 years and the landing pad for this ride should be prepared. Allowing them to understanding the learnings from the business and develop a real knowledge base which can be applied to the next star up will help create better businesses in the future.

    Connected Events – Co-sponsored events which student, entrepreneurs and business professional attend from around the city ensure that students get to understand the wider context of entrepreneurship and able to pitch and network with potential investors.

  • The trinty structure for an entrepreneurship centre

    The trinty structure for an entrepreneurship centre

    Last week I attended GCEC 2014 and was able to spend time with practitioners of Enterprise and Entrepreneurship. It was a very worthwhile experience, especially when so many of them were from the USA which have a much more advanced culture of enterprise.

    It became clear to me that there are three elements for a successful entrepreneurship centre within a University:

    Entrepreneurship Research

    Everyone knows if you start a business in Silicon Valley its great for technology businesses and the eco-system, network and financial institutions are set up to start, grow and IPO these businesses. This is a one place and the rest us don’t live there or want to start a high tech high growth business. This eco-system DOES NOT exist in any other part of the world. Cambridge also has its own eco-system. So we would expect each location, cluster and university to have a set of features that facilitate the growth of certain businesses? We would expect the university to have researched these and further more be able to articulate this through its research papers, education programmes and practical support for startups and growth businesses.

    Enterprise & Entrepreneur Education

    The core business of a university is education. We are experiencing great changes in the higher education environment and universities need to react in real time to the needs of their students and business community. The majority of universities in the UK get more revenue from CPD training than research grants. This is why local business is so important to them, as it provides a great sustainable revenue stream and also the opportunity to understand their local business needs, which helps feed the research. It also brings educators from cross disciplines together which is needed to build robust community focused institutions.

    Enterprise Practice

    The development of students into entrepreneurs and the development of entrepreneurs to leaders of high growth businesses is the most important part of the trinity. It enables the university to substantiate its research in the ‘real world’ environment and provide a practical outlet for the costly education resources. Moreover, it provides the feedback loop which all research and educators need to contextualize the theory.

    I know some universities in the UK have some of these parts, but there is not one University in the UK, which ensures these three parts work together for the common development of the university and its community.

    Looking forward to hear from those that think they do!!!

  • Your startup journey – Hatchery to Investment Ready

    Your startup journey – Hatchery to Investment Ready

    There is a wealth of support out their for students and graduates who are starting a business. Its important to use the system to your advantage, so below we set out the path you should take in moving you business through the start-ups stages.

    Hatchery

    This typically aimed at entrepreneurial students who will utilise a designated and specially designed space to conceive, launch, and “hatch” their own independent businesses. Normally there will be a series of adhoc events, networking and awareness raising activities which are supported by business counselling and academic advising. Examples:

    Key Things to look for?

    • Networking opportunities
    • Access to early stage businesses
    • Development of enterprising skills

    Start-up Course

    A set of events or a week long course which gets you to work on and around your business. These force you to think about the key aspects of the business model, marketing, sales, operations, finance, legal and financial aspect of your business. The programme should help set the plan for the business. These are normally free (you will have to fill in some forms) to attend and offered through universities and support agencies. Key Things to look for?

    • A intensive programme covering topics above
    • Mentoring with a local mentor
    • Follow through support
    • Business Start-up Success rate (should be greater than 50% after one year)

    Examples:

    Business Incubator

    A physical space which is dedicated to start-ups and early stage businesses. Businesses apply with a feasible business plan which supports the funding of the place and support over a period of time. A portfolio of support is provided through a adhoc series of engagements with external “interested” parties, such as mentor, legal advice and funders. Normally providing the physical elements to start a business including hot desking, serviced offices and internet. Key Things to look for?

    • Number of events
    • Types of business
    • Size of business, you want those of the same size or a little bigger which shows they can help this size of business
    • Wifi Access and Speed
    • Spaces for quick meeting, chats and brainstorming

    Examples:

    Accelerator

    These are normally national or regional scheme which take normally trading businesses which have further potential and up skills, network and re-organised the business to be able to take advantage of that potential. They have a mixture of fixed programmes and adhoc support which accumadates the business, at its stage and sector. Key Things to look for?

    • Number of current businesses
    • Number of staff and their networks
    • Location to other clusters of start-ups you need
    • Mentorship programme,
    • Alumni : Number and size of the businesses

    Examples

    Seed Investment Programme

    These open investment programmes offer early-stage investment to entrepreneurs who are looking to develop new ventures. The programmes provide funding and support to help entrepreneurs nurture, develop and test their ideas. They normally last 10 to 13 weeks programme of skills development, networking and investment injection. The majority of these provide each entrant up to £15,000 to £20k of investment capital. Key Things to look for?

    • Support for similar or complementary business sectors
    • Make sure the investors know something about your industry
    • Check their success rate based on increased business valuation
    • How many in the portfolio and how many successful exits from portfolio
    • Do you ready need the money
    • Have you considered other sources of funding

    Investment Ready Advancement

    Research has shown that it can take up to 18 months on average for enterprises to become “investment ready”. The majority of businesses which are within an investment route need more than 20k and therefore they need to become investment ready before taking on 500k plus. Therefore this stage is about getting the company ready for significant investment. Key Things to look for?

    • Are able to share control of your business
    • Have you analysed the right type of investor for your business
    • Have you a clear idea of what stage your business has reached

    Examples:

  • Entrepreneurs don’t like forms

    Entrepreneurs don’t like forms

    When you work with so many universities, you get to see many aspects of Enterprise Education, some good some bad. But there is one aspect which staff and students have issues with and its ERDF funded projects. These projects are designed by someone who normally has long gone to another institution and therefore the narrative is long lost on why they embarked on this journey, however across the sector we see a series of common issues:

    Timing – When a student joins a university and wants to start a business on graduation. They pop over to the enterprise department and see what support is available for graduates and notice its “part funded by the EU”. The one question they forget to ask is “Will this be available in three years when I graduate”. If they did ask, the answer would be “I am not sure as its a three year project that started last year” or something like this. How can the student plan to start a business at that university if the support is not going to be there?  The length of the project is not in line with the academic programme and the University has not committed to provide a portfolio of support for students with or without ERDF funding.

    Journey – The journey through enterprise education and support to create a business is not a linear one. The education is needed at the point of most impact, i.e, just before they need to undergo that task. You need book keeping at the start and completing the business tax return at some point within the first year. Some students require a considerable amount of social media training within the execution of the marketing plan, while others need very very little. These rigid projects can not coup with this approach.

    Support Blocks – The majority of ERDF project require support to be in six hours blocks, signed off by the student on paper (That’s the EU Eco credentials crashing and burning). This requires a fixed “we are going to tell you” how to run a business approach. This limits the support to providing six hours on each subject and forcng everyone to attend every session to build up a set of paper work which evidences the “learning”. Whereby setting the objective to get people to sign forms in person. The majority of staff are only concerned with getting students to sign forms. The use of mixed media and social peer development is important for any long term business development and yet does not fit into these six hour form signing blocks.

    Scope – The requirements of the project requires the scope of the project to be limited, which is understandable. However, a students startup comes in all shapes and sizes, which may not fit within the scope. The money is set out in a way which 2 years ago made sense, but now the economy, technology and business trends have moved on makes little sense to conducts the project with this set scope. The projects need to be able to adapt to the needs to the customer while keeping the aim, to support students in starting a viable business.

    Location – The majority of projects are based around a location, so within the region of the university. The funding for the project comes from two sources, the EU and the students fees. So if the student intends to develop their business back home in another region, then they are not eligible for support under the ERDF project. The university does not offer support in getting them on a project in their region and nor does the university offer to support the student with the part of the funding which they are matching with the EU. So this student loses out.

    One Stop Solution – Students want to go to one person and get all the support available for starting a business. They don’t need several projects which work on different aspects of enterprise and are separate. The supermarkets know this, the government know this (www.gov.uk), so Universities need to understand this and develop the enterprise support personal to be a single team where students meet the first person and can get access to the portfolio of support available at this institution. The ERDF project can not be the only support available and there has to be more offered to ensure the needs of students is met.

    I know these issues are not entirely placed by the EU, who need to understand why these projects are providing little long term benefits or culture change within the institutions. The majority of the problems lies with those that create the proposals, the managers of the project and their briefs. Basically it needs further development of a working relationship with people who understand enterprise education with those who understand how ERDF projects should and could be run.

  • Institutional & Education Enterprise Requirements for Peer-Led Team Learning

    There are numerous studies (Astin (1999) and Terenzini (1996) ) who highlight the advances of peer led learning within the educational institution, creating a strong evidence base for peer led student enterprise groups.

    Astin, (1999) Proposes a student involvement theory whereby the High Education institution could use to measure ‘student involvement’ using a metric which refers to the quantity and quality of the physical and psychological energy that students invest in their experience whilst at the institution. This involvement may take many forms, such as absorption in academic work, participation in extracurricular activities, and interaction with faculty and other institutional personnel. According to the theory, the greater the student’s involvement in college, the greater will be the amount of student learning and personal development.

    Terenzini (1996) states that, students’ out-of-class experiences appear to be far more influential in students’ academic and intellectual development than many faculty members and academic and student affairs administrators think

    Slavin (1996) notes that the motivationalist critique of traditional classroom organization holds that the competitive grading and informal reward system of the classroom creates peer norms opposing academic efforts. Since one student’s success decreases the chances that others will succeed, students are likely to express norms that high achievement is for “nerds” or teachers’ pets. Such work restriction norms are familiar in industry, where the “rate buster” is scorned by his or her fellow workers Vroom (1969). However, by having students work together toward a common goal, they may be motivated to express norms favoring academic achievement, to reinforce one another for academic efforts.

    As a learning pedagogical, Peer-Led Team Learning, whether project-based learning (PBL), game-based learning (GBL), Understanding by Design (UbD), or authentic literacy. Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) is a specific form of small group learning recognized by Project Kaleidoscope as best practice pedagogy (Varma Nelson et al 2004). PLTL was first developed by Woodward, Gosser,and Weiner (1993) as an integrated method that promoted discourse and creative problem solving Evaluation of the successful implementations of PLTL have suggested six critical components which fits well within our student led enterprise groups, especially within the further education sector:

    • Peer-Led Team Learning in integral to the course.
    • Peer-leaders are trained in leadership skills.
    • Faculty or Subject areas are involved.
    • Materials for workshops are challenging and promote collaborative effort.
    • Space and noise level acceptable for group discussion and work.
    • Peer-Led Team Learning is integrated into the institutional structure.

    The institutional enterprise strategy will determine the characteristics of the Peer-Led group and the empowerment student are provided.

  • A Strategic Vision for Student Entrepreneurship

    Entrepreneurship is undeniably a significant asset for students and young adults. More than hard skills as experience and technical knowledge, entrepreneurship has an intrinsic high dimension of creativity, self building, confidence and self realisation (Quality Assurance Agency 2012). A European Commission report on the effects and impact of entrepreneurship programmes in higher education stated: “Entrepreneurship education has a positive impact on the entrepreneurial mindset of young people, their intentions towards entrepreneurship, their employability and finally on their role in society and the economy.”(EC 2012)

    Entrepreneurship as extra-curriculum activity might increasingly become critical for the professional development and students’ careers. As noted in High Fliers Research (2011), nearly two-thirds of recruiters warn that graduates who have had no previous work experience at all are unlikely to be successful during the selection process and have little or no chance of receiving a job offer for their organisations’ graduate programmes.

    Sir Tim Wilson’s review of university-business collaboration stated “Networking between universities and the business community is a critical component of an efficient innovation ecosystem. There are several established networking tools at national and regional levels that create links between universities, business and research technology organisations. These mechanisms need to be constantly evaluated, reviewed and updated as media innovations change communications capability and expectation.” (Wilson 2012)

    The National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs (NACUE) has the potential to be a major contributor to the development of entrepreneurialism amongst our student body. It deserves support from business sponsors, universities and government in promoting entrepreneurship. Such support should be conditional on NACUE retaining its close connectivity student entrepreneurial societies, and its active engagement in the Enterprise Alliance.” (Wilson 2012).

    The World Economic Forum (2011) suggested four global challenges; Transform the Educational System, Build the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, Strive for Effective Outcomes and Impact and Leverage Technology as an Enabler. The growth and advancement of entrepreneurship have been considered objectives for many EU and Member State policies over numerous years, and have grown in prominence over time. The European Commission and individual Member States have started to adopt a range of actions, including driving the build up of a more prominent culture of ‘entrepreneurial mindsets’ amongst European citizens, predominantly young people. This was partnered with the view that all students should have access to entrepreneurship education.

    To make sure ‘entrepreneurship education’ does not become another extra-curricular ‘add on’ there needs to be certain changes that are made a necessity, and the following ‘actions’ are taken from McCoshan (2010) which will ensure they become an essential part of the curriculum:

    • Changes in teaching methods: greater use of experiential learning and a new coach/moderator role for teachers which helps students to become more independent and to take the initiative in their education;
    • Changes in the education context, which takes students out of the classroom into the local community and real businesses, and which establishes less hierarchical relationships within schools;
    • A key role for governments: only they can bring about the required step change in the spread and quality of entrepreneurship education.

    Therefore, an ‘education in entrepreneurship’ needs to go through a conceptual shift from an education in ‘how to run a business’ to how to achieve competency in all areas of the curriculum and be able to apply entrepreneurial thinking into all those areas.

    The UK Quality Assurance Agency (2012) for Higher Education has also published ‘guidance’ on the incorporation of Entrepreneurship in every teaching curriculum, qualifying this action as imperative. They acknowledged the need for entrepreneurship to enhance education across the curriculum (Quality Assurance Agency 2012).

    Entrepreneurship as extra-curriculum activity might increasingly become critical for the professional development and students’ careers. As noted in High Fliers Research (2011):“Nearly two-thirds of recruiters warn that graduates who have had no previous work experience at all are unlikely to be successful during the selection process and have little or no chance of receiving a job offer for their organisations’ graduate programmes”.

    The Royal Bank of Scotland Inspiring Enterprise report 2012 shows that across almost all industrialised countries, unemployment rates are highest among people just out of college, despite the international evidence that shows that young people have a lot of entrepreneurial potential. More awareness of entrepreneurship and engaging with entrepreneurship in education and training will inspire many young people (RBS 2012).

    This is why the development of self help, peer led groups provides an important strategy for developing both employability and enterprise skills and should be incorporated into the national and every education institution enterprise strategy.

     

  • Finding a Social Entrepreneur

    Finding a Social Entrepreneur

    The development of social enterprise over the last few years has lead to a wider appeal and also an increase in students looking at enterprise as a career option. These students are looking at the problems within their society and developing innovative solutions to the problems of today. This will be one of the core legacies of this recession as the young have seen how corporate greed can and does lead to a range of social and ethical issues.

    We can not rely on bankers to mess up the economy so we can create greater social entrepreneurs.

    So what are the core characteristics and triggers for social enterprise and entrepreneurs ?

    Social enterprise is not new, so there is much evidence into its impact and development.  (Zahra et al). So reviewing some of the literature we essential have three types of social entrepreneur.

    1. Social Bricoleur : who is focused on small scale local social needs
    2. Social Constructionist : who exploits opportunities and market failures in order to introduce reforms in “broader” social system
    3. Social Engineer : who recognizes systemic failures and addresses them by introducing revolutionary change

    Once we understand these three types, the development of the civic, social system and revolutionary change means we can identify a number of personal characteristics or attributes which the social entrepreneurs should hold, (Brooks pp12)

    • Innovativeness
    • Achievement Orientation
    • Independence
    • Sense of control over destiny
    • Low risk-aversion
    • Tolerance for ambiguity
    • Community awareness and social concerns

    The first six are standard entrepreneurial attributes which you can find in the majority of literature and also entrepreneur tests, with the the seven being the community  aspect which introduces the social aspect of the entrepreneur.

    These characteristics allow a level of entrepreneurship to exists when triggered. These trigger points are important (e.g. Banking Crisis). There are five entrepreneur trigger points which (Brooks, pp9).

    • Environment
    • Resources
    • Perturbation / Displacement
    • Personal Traits
    • Preparation

    The majority of universities now have greater support for social enterprise, through partnerships with UnLtd and charitable organizations. These help create the right environment and provide the much needed resources to develop the idea. The education preparation for social entrepreneurship has been embedded into our education system for many years. Within the HE sector, we can see great examples from RAG, ENACTUS to formal Volunteering.

    The social entrepreneur provides an opportunity to work with a real local issue and develop an eco system which ensures  real role models and local engagement for a wider set of students throughout their degrees. This is important in developing and maintaining our local economies.

    By understanding the trigger points for social enterprise, we can help develop the skills and personal characteristics within our education system for successful social entrepreneurs.

  • New term, New version of Enterprise

    For the student entrepreneur there is a great amount of support out there. However, this support is not well co-ordinated by the suppliers or by the university or college. Of course if you google “enterprise support” you get (Enterprise Support Services UK Ltd are a cleaning company based in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire)

    However is a great list all students should take a look at:

  • Entrepreneurship – In Context

    Enterprise and entrepreneurship is a key driver in economic growth and can be a huge part of the solution to unemployment. Its impact also affects the whole of civilization because of the advancement in innovation technology as well as the creation of jobs that in consequence reduce poverty, according to Ernst and Young’s (2011).

    “Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with less than 250 employees make up two-thirds of total employment in OECD countries. The European Commission showed in its SME Performance Review that the number of jobs in SMEs had increased at an average annual rate of 1.9%, while the number of jobs in larger enterprises increased by only 0.8% between 2002 and 2008” Ernst and Young (2011).

    Ideally, governments should take an all-inclusive approach, which promotes the strengthening of the entire entrepreneurship environment. However, doing this first requires accurately measuring the multi-layered phenomenon that is entrepreneurship, as well as understanding the impact of a host of different factors on the level of entrepreneurship in a country. “These include the quality of the physical infrastructure, the health of the population, the level of education, the pace of adoption of new technologies and many other macro and micro factors” Ernst and Young (2011).

    Therefore, is it essential that a ‘framework’ that can measure entrepreneurship accurately whilst analysing KPI’s (key performance indicators).

    Among the key findings in Ernst and Young’s (2011) report:

    1. Self-confidence is key
    Our overall analysis provides a clear overview of where the G20 member countries stand with respect to fostering entrepreneurship. Combining two of our key findings — entrepreneurs’ confidence in their own country, and new business density

    2. Entrepreneurship culture
    The culture of a country can affect entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship on many levels. Our perceptions survey was central to our analysis of whether the culture of a country is conducive to Entrepreneurship.

    3. Education and training
    We go beyond looking at the overall performance of the educational system, to take a closer look at entrepreneurship specific education and assess how important this is for encouraging entrepreneurship.

    4. Access to funding
    Securing access to funding, both at the start-up phase and at later stages of enterprise development, is one of the biggest challenges for young entrepreneurs. We analyze the experiences of entrepreneurs in accessing funding across the G20 countries, and find some dramatic differences and valuable lessons.

    5. Regulation and taxation
    The regulatory and taxation environment is one of the areas in which governments have a key role in providing an enabling environment for entrepreneurial growth.

    6. Coordinated support
    There are typically a number of different agencies involved in facilitating and supporting entrepreneurship within a country. The level of support these agencies provide — and the extent to which they coordinate with one another — can make a crucial difference to the entrepreneurship Environment.

    This increasing entrepreneurship and recognition of small enterprises in the health of the economy is also highlighted in recent reports.

    According to the UK National Statistics (Nation. Stats 2012), the actual increase in the total business population between the start of 2011 and the start of 2012 will lie between 200,000 (4.4 per cent) and 253,000 (5.6 per cent).

    The 4.8 million private sector businesses employed an estimated 23.9 million people, and had an estimated combined annual turnover of £3,100 billion.

    The majority (62.7 per cent) of private sector businesses were sole proprietorships, 28.0 per cent were companies and 9.3 per cent were partnerships. At the start of 2012, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)3 accounted for 99.9 per cent of all private sector businesses, representing no change since 2011 and almost unchanged since 2000. SMEs also accounted for 59.1 per cent of private sector employment and 48.8 per cent of private sector turnover at the start of 2012.

    For (Heseltine 2012), the prize is potentially huge. There are about 3.6 million self-employed people and sole traders in the UK, and 1.2 million businesses with at least one employee. That is 4.8 million in total. It is a fact, often noted, that if just one in 10 of these businesses took on an employee, or an additional employee, that would increase employment by 480,000.

    In (Young 2012), it is estimated that if the UK had the same rate of entrepreneurship as the US, there would be approximately 900,000 additional businesses in the UK and that’s the real context for our stakeholders.