Creating the Entrepreneur's Ecosystem: Attributes of the Successful Entrepreneur

It matters little what the agenda of an APPGE event is, the conversation always creeps into a debate over what today's entrepreneur needs to succeed.  Throughout these discussions the same factors reoccur and correlate with other initiatives from around the world. Examples including New Zealand's Entrepreneurship Development programme and the US' Global Entrepreneurship Program cite the importance of 'contacts', 'confidence'  'training' and  ‘Guiding to funding'. 

Here is a brief look at some of our reoccurring points of interest:

> Confidence

Confidence is understood to be the number one obstacle. This observation often precedes a comment about the number of lottery winners who subsequently invest in their own enterprises. According to the EU, only 11% of Europeans are entrepreneurs despite 45% saying they would like to own their own business.  In the words of Peter de Savary, “you can never be an entrepreneur if you’re afraid of loosing money. It’s like being a pilot afraid of bad weather”. 

> Knowledge and skills
For many entrepreneurs, this is the reason they do not reach their potential. A resounding component of success is the accuracy of knowledge in your database. It is often said in marketing that 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your database, making accuracy and focus ever important. It's in the quality not the quantity. 

> Finance

Financing a business in the current climate is relatively hard. Methods of funding are diverse and range from crowd funding to private investment. It is often commented on that many entrepreneurs do not simply realise what is available to them. The APPGE plan to look at this specifically in a future event. 

> People

Networking is about increasing your resources through other people; 'people' is a resource in itself. The old cliché ‘it’s who you know not what you know’, works internally and externally of your enterprise. In a recent discussion, the CEO of Founders Fit said, “if you have a B class idea with A class people around you, you can make it work. Likewise, if you have an A class idea with a B class team there is a high chance of failure”. 

The APPGE is looking to expand on these points in an upcoming forum looking explicitly at the obstacles of the entrepreneur today. 

Tom Dunbar of the APPGE

"Why does Europe lag behind its competitors in entrepreneurial attitudes?"

The EU has begun a conversation that seeks to answer this very question. The consultation kicks off the European Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan and has invited all relevant parties to enter the talks in order to "bring together the best practices for the broadest impact across Europe". The APPGE held its own Enterprise Forum in the House of Lords this month hosted by the Earl of Erroll and Helene Martin Gee. Attendees included entrepreneurs, academics, The Pink Shoe Club as well as guest speakers Joysy John, Sian Prime and Dr Shaheena Janjuha-Jivraj; all of whom discussed the APPGE's contribution in relation to education. 

There were two broad themes discussed throughout the forum which highlight fundamental issues surrounding entrepreneurship in the UK. First, is the lack of an entrepreneurial culture to inspire enterprise. Second, is that institutions are inadequate in facilitating the four main requirements of a successful entrepreneur[1]: Know-how, Finance, Confidence and Contacts. In other words, problems with both agency and structure were highlighted. In light of these, there were some real points of interest highlighted:

 > Institutions are uncoordinated. There isn’t an ‘holistic approach’ to get entrepreneurs inspired and then up and running. Instead, there is a gap between grassroots energy and the business environment, which is exacerbated by a cultural stubbornness to encourage or support entrepreneurship.

  > Too much ‘red tape’ in education means that it fails to ‘bring to the surface’ the natural endowments needed by entrepreneurs to progress. Examples were given where red tape, such as CRB checks, made it impossible for schools to hold talks that could inspire students. When red tape inhibits the encouragement of one's natural ability to be ‘entrepreneurial’, the culture of entrepreneurship is severely diminished.

  > University is too little too late. By the time students get to university it is too late to encourage the ‘culture’ of entrepreneurship. Students often learn within a rigid framework and aren’t able to use the required ‘problem based’ knowledge learned. 

  > "Soft-Skills" aren’t taught in schools. It was noted that in addition to obstacles within the education system, the teaching in 'soft-skills' is undermined by ‘professional teachers’ who don’t have the background to inspire an entrepreneurial mindset among their students.

Fostering the best conditions for entrepreneurship requires a cultural incentive in addition to an effective set of institutions to support it. The conversation here suggests that in the UK a cultural gap is compounded by a fragmented approach to realising it.

The APPGE will have its formal contribution published later this month.

---

[1] A number of the Forum's contributors used synonymous terms for these throughout the discussion. 

Author: Tom Dunbar of the APPGE