Yesterday we launched Empowering the Future: a punchy briefing paper setting out ten policies that the next government should adopt to help inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs.
With support from Youth Business International (YBI), it was launched with Lord Mawson and over 100 entrepreneurs (and those supporting them) in the House of Commons yesterday evening.
In my speech, I went through the ten policies we think would go a long way to making the UK more entrepreneurial. Here’s a taster of three.
First, following calls by Young Enterprise and others, we think under-18s should be able to open business bank accounts – without credit facilities – so they can separate personal and business finances from a young age.
The latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor UK Report shows that youth entrepreneurship has been increasing over the last 20 years in the UK – as it has across most of the world – with technology making starting and growing a business relatively easy. A business bank account is essential for running a business – not least to pay taxes, which is something that you would think HMRC would be lobbying for.
Second, we need to give innovative edtech entrepreneurs more and better opportunities to pitch to government and schools. Back in 2008, Clayton M. Christensen’s Disrupting Class was published. In it, he and his co-authors argued that online learning and other technological innovations would disrupt the traditional classroom model by providing personalised, student-centric education to the benefit of all. Not only does technology have the potential to better build essential skills, but it can also free up teachers’ time, crucially enabling them to offer additional pastoral support in the process. However, we haven’t seen the promised revolution (at least not in formal education).
As we argued in Procurement and Innovation, we need more ‘meet the buyer’ roadshows. These would allow buyers to see what is possible and enable innovators to tailor or contextualise their offers to better match buyers’ needs. Also, the format of these events needs to change – even when these events take place, innovators aren’t always given a chance to pitch their products.
Third, the incoming government should ensure that the essential skills necessary to be entrepreneurial are embedded across the curriculum from primary school. This is something we explored in a detailed report for the APPG for Entrepreneurship.
If the polls are right, and Labour wins power next month, they’re committed to reviewing the national curriculum. The briefing paper references the Skills Builder Partnership, whose Universal Framework is already used by over 500 schools. We need to make sure that the new curriculum design draws on the rigorous research like this.
This paper is an opening salvo. Soon we’ll build a forum of entrepreneurs and experts to help put these policy ideas – and others – into practice. Watch this space for how you can be involved.
Join the Team
Would you like to work with us, or know someone who does? Now is the time, as we’ve opened up three positions you can apply for on the new jobs section of our website.
We are looking for a researcher, someone to lead our Female Founders Forum and coordinate events, and we’ve formalised our internships process.
Relatedly, if you are looking to get into the world of public policy, Tom Westgarth of the Tony Blair Institute and co-founder of the excellent TxP community has some timely advice for those near the start of their policy careers.
Empowering the Future