This week is GEW – Global Entrepreneurship Week. There have been lots of events around the world. There are some interesting gaps and statistics from their site:
The Ambition Gap
Over 50% of the population want to start a business but only 5.8% do
The Demographic Gap
Young people (18-24) are 5 times more likely to be unemployed than starting a business
More than twice as many men start business in the UK as women (in 2009, approximately 1.5 million men and 650,000 women started a business).
The Skills Gap
Enterprise Education doubles your chances of business success yet it isn’t a staple of the education system
I also attended a meeting at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills this week. They have cut 10% of their staff already and are about to take another 20% cuts. With all these (presumably) senior civil servants unlikely to get another job, what a great opportunity to create a whole new generation of entrepreneurs…..and cut the National Debt.
Did You Know
A rise of just 1% in self employment (less than 300,000 entrepreneurs) would boost the UKs GDP by £22bn and cancel out the Government cuts for 2 years
One of my godsons, who recently graduated from Edinburgh University wrote to me on Wednesday and said he was looking for a job. I wrote back to him saying that he should make a job, not take a job. He has not replied to me yet!
If we helped both the older (retiring civil servants) AND the more recent graduates by giving them an incentive to start their own business, then we could really make a big difference in cutting our debts rather and move towards a more positive way of looking at the cuts. I started my own business 2 years ago and have never looked back.
Make you think! I hope my godson will be up for it!
