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New Business Trends  Youth Entrepreneurship
Youth in the age of entrepreneurship
They see owning businesses as a way to maintain independence
The next decade will see Generation Y (aged between five and twenty five) emerge as the most entrepreneurial generation in history.
These highly independent individuals will not want to work for large corporations. Instead, they will be small business owners.
This according to the 2007 Intuit Future of Small Business Report, issued by the Institute for the Future, a California-based, independent research group which has been forecasting trends affecting the global market place for almost 40 years.
Generation Yers see traditional big company jobs as “constraining and risky”, the institute says. “They have a clear wish to be captains of their own destiny. They see entrepreneurship as a way of maintaining independence, of owning their own careers.”
Small business owners will need sophisticated management skills to be successful in an increasingly complex global market place. In addition, technology will play a bigger role in operating and managing small businesses.
“Combined, these factors will result in more entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs of all ages seeking training and education in entrepreneurship,” the institute says.
“Small business entrepreneurial programmes will become attractive to an increasing number of students interested in starting small businesses.”
Though we will see an increase in the number of university level entrepreneurship programmes in the next decade, Generation Yers do not see a university degree as the be-all and end-all solution to their success.
On-demand education programmes, customised to their specific entrepreneurial needs, will become common.
“Generation Yers will expect these programs to equip them with the necessary skills to start and run small businesses,” says the institute.
Generation Yers have important entrepreneurial leadership traits:
· They are not afraid to take risks and try new things
· They are prepared to make mistakes and learn from them
· They are conceptually strong
· They build ideals and adapt or reinvent them as required; and
· They believe all outcomes are possible (having grown up with both scenario based video games and the interactive web)
In addition, Generation Yers have the following social characteristics:
· are good, critical thinkers
· Cherish autonomy
· Lean towards libertarian (egalitarian) ideals
· Want to be treated fairly and with respect
· Have tremendous self confidence
· Are distrustful of the governments, large organisation and the elite
· Are informal and situational in their approach to ethical and work issues
The instituted believes Generation Yers will approach entrepreneurship with a twist – they will strongly embrace serial entrepreneurship. This means they will work on several business ideas simultaneously and once initial start ups are launched, , make transitions to new businesses without hesitation.
In the US, colleges are no longer surprised when kids, who are just out of high school, apply with multiple start ups on their resume, the institute says.
“Entrepreneurship used to be seen as something one learned only through experience and mentoring. The growth and success of entrepreneurial education has changed this view.”
Out of the 26-million businesses in the US, 20-million have no employees. The institutes research have discovered that a good portion of these so called sole proprietors do not call themselves small business owners, but rather freelancers or hobbyists. The institute, which calls this phenomenon “accidental entrepreneurs”, says “there’s a tremendous wealth of economic activity happening in these sole-proprietor, home-based businesses”
Source : Business Day
new business trends  youth entrepreneurship |
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section specialist
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Antoinette Slabbert
Antoinette is the owner of Active English, an English Language tutoring franchise that is taking South Africa by storm. As an entrepreneur with a focus on service in Family Business and Youth Entrepreneurship, her business has grown by 11 franchises since 2003 and continues to grow. Antoinette has been the recipient of a prestigious FASA award for franchising and advocates that a business owner should be totally involved in his/her business on all levels, offering the best service.
You can visit her website at: www.activeenglish.co.za |
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