Thinking entrepreurially!

The Ministerial foreward in A Guide to Enterprise Education states that

Young people today often say they want to be their own boss, to start their own company or to make  a living from a personal passion. Enterprise Education will help them to do that successfully, to their own benefit and that of the economy and the local community.

Ian Wright MP Parliamentay Under Secretary for 14-19 Reform and Apprenticeship

Being enterprising is the ability of individuals, groups and businesses to repond to change, take risks, to innovate and generate and implement new ideas and new ways of doing things.  Put simply, enterprise is having ideas and making them happen.


An enterprise culture- in the form of entrepreneurial confidence, motivation, capability and ambition running through society - requires the application of talent to deliver economic and social benefit and remain globally competitive. Enterprise contributes to business growth, to the delivery of public and third sector services, to the regeneration of communities, and to building the skills and confidence of individuals to seek opportunities to create wealth and achieve social impact. Its effective delivery can create results where

• new businesses boost our economy
• social entrepreneurship can enrich communities
• enterprising employees revitalise organisations and aid business growth
• having a can-do attitude and the skills to spot opportunities and implement ideas benefits everyone of us.

In the current global economic climate it is crucial to focus on supporting the enterprising skills and ambitions that will maintain our long term economic prosperity.  We need people who are motivated and equipped to seize new opportunities. I would encourage you to read some of the inspiring stories in the weblink below of those young people who have succeeded in the entrepreneurial world.

Bring it to the attention of your students that many people have untapped entrepreneurial potential and lack the motivation, confidence, experience and capability to be enterprising. New and existing businesses often fail to grow at a rate that would drive up our competiveness and productivity.  Our greatest challenge in schools is to unlock the talent and potential of everyone, using enterprise and the entrepreneurail opportunity as the key. Read More

PROJECT

Imagine that there were no employers, either in the private or public sector, only self employment - challenge your students to decide the kind of business they would develop for themselves in this 'new world order'.

At a recent careers event showcasing the eskills sector in Northern Ireland, the MD of a leading multi-national company, commenting on the current NI curriculum, felt that we still don't put as much emphasis as he would have liked on enterprise education in the curriculum. He emphasised his viewpoint by signalling the large number of US students who currently leave college with qualification in one hand and their business plans in the other.

Within the CCEA Statements of Minimum Entitlement at both KS3 and KS4 enterprise and entrepreneurship figure very prominently, and yet appears 'neglected' in many post-16 programmes of work. Surely at a time in their lives when young people are making a significant transition from post primary schooling to a consideration of other options, there is a case to be made for more, rather than less, enterprise education from 16 to 19. This is especially relevant given that one of our local universities, Queens, Belfast, had been voted in October 2009 'The Times' Entrepreneurial University of the Year. In earlier blogs I had signalled how many of the universities within the UK were currently restructuring their course/syllabus content and delivery to accommodate employability and enterprise skills.

PROJECT

I would recommend that sixth form students be given the opportunity to hear first hand the enterprising activities currently ongoing at Queens by contacting Denise Murtagh and invite her or one of her team to speak. Email her at d.murtagh@qub.ac.uk

 Read more

Finally, according to Lord Davies, the former banker and now UK minister for trade, investment and small business, Britain would have 750,000 more small firms if women were fully engaged with the business world. Putting female entrepreneurship on a par with that in America would boost the British economy and employment.  Appointing more female directors to the boardrooms of Britain's big companies would also inspire more women to start their own companies and businesses.

We have an issue in Britain that we don't have enough women start their own companies.  We need more female entrepreneurs.  A quarter of the large FTSE companies don't have women on their boards.  It's all about providing role models. One needs to showcase women who have done great things. The organisation Women in Business is gender-specific, but through their activities they are delivering for everyone. They are aiming through their work for the economy to redress the imbalance by providing women with the skills to network equally, by encouraging and helping them to start or grow their own business, by presenting role models. Read more

PROJECT

Get your students to compile a list of female entrepreneurs from their town/area that have built up successful businesses - better still, if some of the example are past pupils, then invite one or more in to talk with the students.

Check out the websites below for more ideas and resources on enterprise education.
http://www.springwise.com/
http://www.trendwatching.com/