Raising Entrepreneurs

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A recent poll found that 21 per cent of children would like to run their own business and the UK Learning and Skills Council is keen to ensure that the enthusiasm, enterprise and aspirations of young people are not dampened by the economic downturn.

Enterprise Week 2008, which took place from November 17-23, saw thousands of activities run by organisations across the UK aimed at encouraging people to unlock their enterprising talent. Last year saw more than 5,000 events and half a million people take part.

For the first time the week has expanded in 2008 to become part of Global Enterprise Week – the first worldwide celebration of enterprise aimed at young people.

Paul Lucken, LSC spokesman, said: “There is an ever growing need in the current climate to give young people the skills to spot opportunities, overcome challenges and implement ideas.

“If young people are encouraged and given the right opportunity to develop their entrepreneurial spirit, then in time this will be of huge value to the economy.

“You do not need to be a straight ‘A’ student or follow traditional academic routes to be entrepreneurial, however, building new skills and developing learning are extremely valuable for success.” “Options to continue developing skills has never been so varied, whether it’s work-based learning in the form of an apprenticeship or staying on in further education.

“Enterprise Week focuses on recognising and building these skills and is a fantastic and fun starting point to bolster young people’s confidence and ambition to be enterprising.”

Read the full story in Devon 24

High school student Juliun Kinsey recently received a $200,000 grant to set up his new business – a store on the campus of Loften High School.

When Juliun Kinsey was nearing the end of his freshman year at Santa Fe High School, he realized he did not apply himself like he should have to get the most out of his potential.

“I recognized that on my own, and I knew I needed to do something about it,” said Juliun, 17, and a senior at what is now the Professional Academies Magnet at Loften High School.

“My mother (Janet Kinsey) and I decided it would be best for me to switch schools, and I began my 10th grade year at Loften High School.” Juliun’s father is Jim Kinsey and he has four siblings.

Since that time, Juliun has distinguished himself not only as a first-rate student, but also as a strong leader. His legacy as a young entrepreneur will soon be on display when the school opens its school store in early October.

“The store will look like a college coffee shop,” said the school’s principal, Dr. Chet Sanders, adding that students will help name the store. “We will sell books, music, school supplies and clothes. We will be definitely selling academy shirts because all students must wear academy shirts.”

Juliun developed the business plan for the store, and he has received global, state and local recognition for his efforts. As a 15-year-old sophomore in Loften’s marketing education program, Juliun was one of only 30 students worldwide to be named Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship for developing the plan.

Read the full story in the Gainesville Guardian.

An economic development agency is holding an entrepreneur camp next week for budding young business people.

Children will have an opportunity to get a loan, create a product, do market research and sell their goods for a profit.

Enterprise Charlotte is holding the camp for youngsters aged nine to 12 at the Community Building Development Corporation.

Stacey MacLean, youth economic development officer with Enterprise Charlotte, said because the children are not old enough to work it is the perfect age to get them interested in creating a business and making their own money.

“In this county there are a lot of aging entrepreneurs, so there is a great opportunity coming up for them in the next 10 years,” said MacLean.

“The point is to teach the youth of Charlotte County about entrepreneurship to introduce them to the possibility of owning their own business as an alternative to working for other people. “¦ Some kids don’t even know what entrepreneurship is.”

MacLean said 10 of the 15 spots have already been filled. She said many of the children are returnees while others are the children of teachers and entrepreneurs, and the friends of youngsters that attended last year.

“They are thinking, ‘Wow, I can make money on my own,’ ” said MacLean. “Their money comes from their folks, so to learn how to make their own money is an interesting topic for them.”

During the first day of the camp, the young entrepreneurs will get a tour of a local radio station and record a commercial. On the second day, they will look through books with potential products and try their hand at making products such as stress balls and candles.

On the third day of the camp, the youth will finalize their product plans and hit the streets to do market research by asking people questions such as how much they would pay for the product and what colour they would want it in. At the end of the day, the children will visit the Community Building Development Corporation to get a $20 loan. On the fourth day, they will have their materials and will make their products.

The products at last year’s camp included purses out of sheets of foam and pipe cleaners.

On Friday, Aug. 15, the children will be at the St. Stephen Market from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. selling their items – and hoping to pay back their loan and turn a profit.

Source: Telegraph-Journal

For eight Siouxland teens, the Okoboji Entrepreneurial Institute’s first middle school session is for learning and dreaming.

Instructor Karla Kyle, who teaches business classes in the Harris-Lake Park schools, said the program is offered to middle school students “because this is the age where they start thinking about their careers as they create a business plan for their dream business and execute that plan.”

The institute started Monday and runs through Friday.

This “is a great opportunity because it gets them to think about options. This will also help students select classes that will help them in their career choice.”

Each of the eight students has a great idea for a business, Kyle added. And according to counselor Donalle Rodas, the students will compete to earn cash awards of up to $100.

Ryan Clark, of Okoboji, will need more than the top prize to get his venture started. Clark plans to open a hotel with a lot of recreational facilities on the West Coast. Clark expects the course will teach him “more about being an entrepreneur and what it’s about.”

Spencer’s Taylor Rouse, who plans to study veterinary medicine, wants to develop a pet day care service. The eighth-grader said being with animals doesn’t feel like work. “It’s just fun. And there aren’t a lot of people doing small-animal day care.”

Spirit Lake eighth-grader Cale Schmidt admits he’s a dreamer and has several ideas for video games. “I’m the kind of guy that likes to invent and sell things.” He said his ideas come from dreaming. “Sometimes I’m not the best listener.”

But Schmidt’s institute project is not technological. It’s a restaurant offering freshly cooked, healthful choices, “so people don’t have to be worried about what they’re eating.” His influence is his mom, who makes a lot of salads for dinner, he said. “And we’re water drinkers.”

Candace Brazel, who’s in the Talented and Gifted program at Laurens-Marathon Middle School, is another potential veterinarian who wants to open a place where teenagers can “hang out and be off the streets and not getting into bad habits.” She believes food and beverage sales could support her business.

Katie Evans, of Laurens, wants to use her dancing experience to open a dance studio. Just entering her first year of high school, Evans said she has learned that rejection is part of being an entrepreneur.

After working on her middle school yearbook, Caitlyn Heuton, of Laurens, is thinking about opening a photo studio.

The rejection Evans noted becomes relief, Heuton learned, when someone finally says yes. “Failure happens a lot. And you just have to keep dealing with it and trying.”

At 5 feet 7-3/4 inches tall, Regan Grossnickle, of rural Laurens, wants to design and sell jeans and accessories for other tall girls. Grossnickle said the class speakers urged the students not to give up on their dreams just because they fail one time.

Spencer ninth-grader Abigail Wallace said she has already learned that “sometimes failure is a good thing if we learn from it.”

Source: Sioux City Journal

The teacher calls the class to order.

“Right children, today you’re going to learn how to earn your first million by starting a successful business. Open your textbooks and turn to page 42…”

If only it were that simple.

For the last 11 years, first as Chancellor of the Exchequer, now as Prime Minister, Gordon Brown has talked of Britain’s need to become a post-industrial “knowledge economy” – no longer a nation of shopkeepers or manufacturers, but a nation of entrepreneurs trading on ideas.

With China and India churning out four million of eager and ambitious graduates each year, Britain cannot afford to think that old industries and old ideas will keep the UK economy ticking, Mr Brown has said.

So schools and colleges have been encouraged to talk of entrepreneurship as a career choice; universities have been given financial aid to work with industry and turn academic research into spin-out companies or saleable consultancy and expertise.

There is some evidence to suggest Mr Brown is right to focus on education.

Take the Sunday Times’ Fast Track 100, the league of fastest growing private companies in the UK.

Excluding tech companies, 70pc of the Fast Track are companies founded by graduates.

Look at the league of fastest growing tech companies, and the proportion founded by graduates rises to 84pc.

But does this mean entrepreneurship can be taught?

Would the founders of seven out of ten fast track companies have made their mark without letters after their name?

After all, Richard Branson was 16 years old when he set up a his first business, a student magazine, and Sir Alan Sugar was selling aerials and electrical goods from the back of a van having left school at the same age.

James Brown, partner at Grant Thornton in East Anglia, said: “I think that to be an entrepreneur there are certain inherent qualities you have got to have. Yes, they can be developed, mentored – even trained – but you have got to have a belief and confidence that drives the ability to make decisions quickly.

“Entrepreneurs are people who see an opportunity and go for it.

“But to be an entrepreneur, you also have to have an ability to sell – if not the product, the idea.

“Who is better at selling? People with charisma, people who can build rapport. Richard Branson isn’t the same character as Alan Sugar, but they’ve both have got an element of chutzpah. “You’ve got to have an element of charisma, that’s part of being a risk-taker and someone who will make a snap decision and pursue it.

“Can you train someone to be an entrepreneur? Only if they have some of the inherent characteristics already. You can’t train them from scratch, but you can develop them.”

Mr Brown suggested a series of common character traits shared by successful entrepreneurs: self belief, an appetite for risk-taking, a nimbleness of thought and action, a strategic vision rather than short-term view.

But he added that entrepreneurs tend to have a restless intellect that thrives on new challenges and a resilience and self-belief when times are tough. The most successful are able to surround themselves with the right team.

“It’s debatable whether, like some great sportsmen, it’s best not to train them for fear of changing what makes them different,” Mr Brown added.

The challenge then is to create a permissive culture in which people feel free to take entrepreneurial risks, set up a business that has a risk of failure but even greater hope of success… like the United States.

Certainly the representation of entrepreneurs in British popular culture is evolving. Where once we saw the spivs and wheeler dealers Private Walker of Dad’s Army, Arthur Daley and Del Boy, we now see the wealthy “investor angels” of Dragon’s Den and the cut-throat competition to be Sir Alan Sugar’s apprentice.

Read the full story in The Business.