Are entrepreneurs the new chefs? At the recent launch of this year’s inaugural Made Enterprise Festival James Lohan, co-founder of travel guide company Mr & Mrs Smith, suggested that he was at best sceptical of the current surge in popularity for entrepreneurialism, especially among the young. “This year everyone wants to be an entrepreneur and last year everyone wanted to be a celebrity chef,” he said. The question is apposite: are we are witnessing a reality-TV-show-fuelled fad, or will the desire to start businesses be maintained long after the commissioning editors turn their attention elsewhere?

Regardless of what’s driving it, there is plenty of research to suggest that plenty of young people in the UK view being an entrepreneur as a serious career choice. In fact research just released by insurance firm Hiscox suggests that, thanks in part to a sluggish, post-recession jobs market, many graduates see starting their own business as the only career choice. Research conducted among 1,000 students in June revealed that almost a quarter (23 per cent) are already running or are about to launch their own business.

But will more young entrepreneurs starting up more businesses mean a more vibrant and healthier economy, or will it merely lead to more failures? Assuming the young entrepreneurs that fail can learn from these failures, is that even a bad thing?

In one way, it doesn’t really matter if this upsurge in entrepreneurial activity is a TV-induced fad or marks a genuine cultural shift. The fact that being an entrepreneur has made it into the career options of more young people can only be a good thing. Whether those entrepreneurs happen to be in Dragons’ Den or on a host of other TV shows is immaterial—the point is that the young are given role models. Because while entrepreneurs love to gather and debate if they are born or made, the truth is it doesn’t matter. Raising awareness that starting your own business is a sensible career option is a simple and yet extremely powerful step that will genuinely boost entrepreneurial activity.

Combined with a well organised national mentoring scheme and initiatives to keep teaching enterprise skills, including things such as basic book-keeping, across all age levels, it could lead to a cultural shift that will provide a long-term boost to the UK economy. Who knows, some of those would-be chefs might decide they want to run their own restaurants and become entrepreneurs as well.

Richard Cree

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