The biggest chunk of entrepreneurs on our list are between the ages of 26 and 36. What does this say about entrepreneurial culture in the UK? Well for a start it suggests youth is not a barrier to business success. Just over 40% of the Startups 100 had merely a few years climbing the corporate ladder before deciding to break out on their own.
Proving that you don’t always need years of experience to set up a business, 11% of our entrepreneurs are 25 and under. It’s not just the likes of Michael Zuckerberg (Facebook’s founder) showing their entrepreneurial colours before they even reach their Silver Jubilee. Around 40,000 UK businesses were started by the under 25s last year, according to Barclays – that’s a 15% rise on 2006.
Nearly 10% of the businesses on our list were started by people over the age of 50. According to research conducted by Kingston University, a sixth of all new businesses are founded and run by people over 50. This group of older entrepreneurs contributes £24.4bn to the UK economy every year.
But money isn’t the top priority for older entrepreneurs according to the research.
Nearly 40% started their business to do something pleasurable, and 50% are now happier than they have ever been as a result.
