Beer entrepreneur more popular than Branson and Gates

A survey of students thinking of starting their own business has revealed a shift away from traditional role models such as Richard Branson and Bill Gates to a new entrepreneur they most admire - Karan Bilimoria.

The Scottish Institute for Enterprise polled 700 student entrepreneurs from Scotland's 13 universities, and while most continue to admire Branson, as well as others including James Dyson, Anita Roddick and Bill Gates, topping the poll with 42 per cent as the students' most admired entrepreneur was Karan Bilimoria, the founder of Cobra Beer, the fastest growing beer brand in Britain.

The students believed that Bilimoria, originally from India but now based in the UK, had 'led by example' and 'triumphed through his tenacity and strong belief in his vision'. Bilimoria's success in the survey underpins the growing international appeal of entrepreneurship, with many Asian and Middle East students aspiring to become science and technology entrepreneurs and keen to grow their businesses in the UK.

Sharon Bamford, director of the Scottish Institute for Enterprise, commented: "Vision is clearly an important quality in growing a business and is often linked with entrepreneurial flair. However, good leaders exhibit a breadth of leadership qualities and Karan Bilimoria is a prime example of this.

"He has had enormous success in building a business from scratch and it is greatly encouraging that he is a role model for many of our Scottish students. However, having the right qualities for a leadership role is not in itself sufficient to ensure business survival and our talented entrepreneurial students are acutely aware that follow-through is also needed - they are taught to have the right blend of skills in their management team, that they must constantly monitor their business and ensure any changes are strategically planned."

The responsibility for running a business was taken very seriously in the survey with 64 per cent happy to spend in excess of 50 hours leading by example. However, over a quarter of those polled admitted that the amount of red tape involved in starting and running a business was something that concerned them.

The survey also asked if the students believed they would become millionaires by the time they were 30, with over half (51 per cent) claiming they would.