How business is shaping tomorrow's entrepreneurs

Employers have long bemoaned the dearth of skilled people to meet their business demands. A recent study by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and KMPG found that 45 per cent of organisations had vacancies which were proving difficult to fill, despite high unemployment. As Marks & Spencer's chairman, Sir Stuart Rose, said last year: "As an employer we really do have to worry about the skills coming through in the UK."

M&S is one of the founding supporters of the Fashion Retail Academy, which opened in 2006 to prepare the next generation for the workplace by teaching the fundamental skills required in the retail industry.
But Rose believes greater co-operation between education and business is needed to address the skills gap. "The biggest issue we have at the moment is this misunderstanding about what the workplace is actually about," he says. "You're producing people and we're receiving people and there's a mismatch between what you're sending out and what we want."

Which explains why more employers are either taking skills requirements into their own hands, or collaborating with other businesses to set up sector-specific schools that teach essential skills. BBC Dragon Peter Jones launched the National Enterprise Academy last year to create a centre of excellence for developing enterprise skills. Students work on real-life business challenges and receive coaching from mentors. While 12 years ago, the School for Social Entrepreneurs opened to provide training and opportunities to enable people to use their entrepreneurial abilities for social benefit.

The reason these establishments exist, claims Marc Lewis, dean of the newly reopened School of Communication Arts, is because business moves far quicker than the world of education, meaning graduates applying for jobs "aren't fit for purpose". He hopes his school, which is funded by advertising agencies including Abbott Mead Vickers, will provide students with enough up-to-date knowledge and hands-on skills to make a quick impact when they join the industry or to start creative businesses of their own-there are 10 lots of £10,000 as capital for "ideapreneurs" to go it alone.

The school encourages industry to take responsibility for directing what the next generation of talent needs to compete and creative executives have written the curriculum. Lewis says: "About 250 of our mentors contributed about 6,000 pieces of knowledge. That makes it the most up-to-date curriculum."

At the School for Social Entrepreneurs, which now has 11 schools, students "learn by doing" through peer support and collaborative projects, says its policy director, Nick Temple. Because the school doesn't require formal qualifications or hefty fees, it attracts a diverse mix united by a common theme: entrepreneurial spirit applied for social benefit.
The school doesn't bring in lecturers to talk about one specific subject, but invites social entrepreneurs to tell their whole story. "Students learn from credible peers such as [Big Issue founder] John Bird," says Temple. "We call them expert witnesses because they get grilled."

The school transforms entrepreneurial talent into real social outcomes, adds Temple, and what's exciting is the diversity. "There will be very different projects in very different fields. Whether that's setting up a childcare co-operative in Hackney or a fairtrade import business, you'll have a retired doctor next to a fresh graduate or a refugee. Where they benefit is bringing that diversity together to make a real difference."