More Young Entrepreneurs Needed

"Entrepreneurs are the engine room of the economy and crucial to a sustained recovery... but more needs to be done at an earlier stage to nurture new business talent in the education system.

"Too much emphasis is placed on academic achievement and not enough on encouraging new ideas and enterprise... We need to help young people become more employable and develop the practical skills," says Sir Brian Souter, chief executive of transport giant Stagecoach Group.

Beyond common rules

Beyond common rules of successful businesses

Start-ups guru, Eric Ries, says that entrepreneurship is the management discipline with highest uncertainty because you don’t yet know what the product is, you don’t yet know who the customer is, and you don’t yet know if we’re on a path to a sustainable business.

Numbers can easily prove this. There are 4.5million firms in the UK private sector and 48 000 of them were established last year. Less than 1∕3 will survive to their third year.

So how do you get there?


The answer is simple. It is important to go beyond the common tips for running a successful business. Money is not the only currency you need. You need knowledge and head for business. Give your business an edge. Here is how you can do this:

■ Turn waste into value.
 If you measure how much you lose from waste you will have a sufficient reason to reduce it. For example, City Group found that every employee saves one sheet of paper a day they will save £452,000 a year. Of course, there is no start-up which operates on City Group’s scale but start-ups do not have their resources, too. Cost reduction of carbon footprint could bring additional benefits. Communicating socially responsible and environmentally friendly image can gain the company support from pressure groups and local community.