Can You Make a Job? Don’t Miss the Local and Social Angle!
Though it didn’t come to my attention until the end of the actual week… last week was Enterprise Week in the UK. It only got through to me when I turned up to meet David Thornley at the Chamber of Commerce to follow up on the Business Start Up course that I had been attending for the previous 3 weeks. He pointed out during the session, that he’d just had an article published on the Lake District Messenger website, pointing out some of the key drivers that will emerge in the next few years as the government look to regrow the country’s economy from virtual scratch again. In this article which David has kindly given permission for me to reprint below, he summarises some of the key findings of a report “Make a Job, Don’t Take a Job!” published by Enterprise UK.
This week’s eBusinessCumbria is an Enterprise Week special with local experts giving advise on creating new business opportunities in the region.
Enterprsie UK, the force behind Global Enterpreneurship week 2010 claims “it’s time to make a job, not take a job”.
Enterprsie UK claim that new research points to major gaps that need addressing if we are to create the most entrepreneurial decade.
They claim the UK needs to address an enterprise gap of ambition, demographics and skills if it is to kick-start the entrepreneurial decade our economy urgently needs – according to the organisers of a global entrepreneurial movement.
New research commissioned to mark the launch of Global Entrepreneurship Week finds that entrepreneurship in the UK suffers from:
* AN AMBITION GAP- Over 50% of the population want to start a business but only 5.8% are in the actual process of starting a business. To put this into global context, the rate of those starting a business in the US is 8 percent, Brazil 15 percent and in China 19 percent.
* A DEMOGRAPHIC GAP- An increase in self-employment rates of just 1% (fewer than 300,000 entrepreneurs), would boost the UK’s GDP by around 1.5% and add approximately £22bn to the UK economy.
* A SKILLS GAP- Enterprise education doubles your chances of business success but despite the fact four million learners are going through further education each year, and many more through schools and colleges – enterprise is still not a staple of the education system.
Additional research commissioned found that entrepreneurs are ready to find solutions to these challenges. A YouGov poll of 1,046 entrepreneurs across the UK shows that they believe that a new entrepreneurial culture will lead the nation’s economic recovery.
Key findings show:
* SUPPORT -77% want the government to play a key role in supporting entrepreneurs
* RECOVERY – 79% agree that the UK’s entrepreneurs are responsible for securing a strong economic recovery
* OPPORTUNITY– 65% agree there are good opportunities for businesses right nowThe new report, named Make a Job, Don’t Take a Job, represents the first temperature check of entrepreneur opinion since the Prime Minister called on the ‘doers and grafters’ to support the nation’s economic recovery.
Tom Bewick, CEO of Enterprise UK, the driving force behind Global Entrepreneurship Week in the UK, said: “Entrepreneurship is vital at this time to secure Britain’s economic recovery and the week aims to promote and support the role of entrepreneurship within society. During the week we are launching new research that will help bust the myths that hold people back from starting up”.
Peter Jones, Chairman of Enterprise UK said: “It is no good encouraging people to start a business when they have no idea about how to go about it. To make the UK the leading entrepreneurial nation we need to back our entrepreneurs by investing in enterprise education and by celebrating the role that entrepreneurs play in creating a dynamic and growing economy”.
Taking place in over 100 countries with over 10 million participants worldwide, Global Entrepreneurship Week is the largest global movement of entrepreneurs and aims to inspire and support the nation’s budding entrepreneurial talent.
Throughout the week there will be over 4,000 events taking place across the UK celebrating and encouraging entrepreneurship.
The week kicked-off on Monday with a launch event at Google’s London HQ involving Vince Cable the Minister for Business and Enterprise Mark Prisk MP, Peter Jones CBE, Google UK CEO Matt Brittin, School for Startups founder Doug Richard and The Black Farmer, Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones.
The Prime Minister, David Cameron, said: “Global Entrepreneurship Week is a fantastic opportunity for us to inspire the innovators and entrepreneurs in our country.
“The future of our economy depends on a new generation of entrepreneurs coming up with ideas, resolving to make them a reality and having the vision to create wealth and jobs. But to make it happen we need a culture change in Britain – an injection of self-belief and dynamism to convince those who are dreaming about making it big to get out there and do it.
“That’s why the government is doing everything possible to encourage entrepreneurs who are starting out – from simplifying taxes to providing access to mentors – and that’s why I wish Global Entrepreneurship Week every success.”
That’s where us new starters come in. Despite the background chatter of doom and gloom from Auntie Beeb and the Press, recessions are and always have been times when innovation and lateral thinking generate enormously successful businesses.
One of the key elements of any business’ future success is going to be its ability to widen its circle of influence in both local search listings and social media. Most people with businesses in Carlisle that I have spoken to since embarking on my new mission, visibly squirm and shudder when these 2 entities are mentioned. The simple fact of the matter is: companies with an effectively managed presence in local listings or interest listings and regularly updated content in Facebook, Twitter and Linked In, to name but a few: make more money! It’s time to wake up and smell a flavour of coffee that is no longer new.
To get an inkling of the power of Facebook marketing take a look at this video – and yes they are selling a big expensive course (and no I’m not an affiliate so I don’t get any money from it) but the information is extremely relevant. The intro is by an American but Robert grant is a brit. There is well over an hour of content and they save the plug to the end!