Nearly half of the UK population believe they have the skills to start a business, but less than 10% plan to set up on their own company within the next three years, according to a new report.
The findings are part of the 2006 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), which provides a country-by-country breakdown of entrepreneurial activity.
Rebecca Harding, of the London Business School, authored the UK section of the report. She says the large gap between the number of people planning to start up a business and those who think they have the required skills has a simple explanation.
“People believe running a business is easy and they think ‘I could do that if I wanted to’,” Harding told Startups. “But the simple fact is, a lot of people just don’t want to do it.”
The GEM report also noted that despite a slight dip in the UK’s entrepreneurial rate compared to 2005, the decline is lower than that seen in the U.S.
In the UK the entrepreneurial rate dropped from 6.2% in 2005 to 5.8% in 2006, whereas the U.S reported a 2.4% decline.
Harding says there are two main reasons to explain why the UK’s entrepreneurial rate is more stable than other countries.
“Firstly the UK’s macroeconomy is very stable at the moment, much more so than other countries,” said Harding.
“There has also been a lot of effort behind encouraging women’s entrepreneurship in the UK, and it’s actually women keeping the levels fairly constant in this country.”
However, Harding believes that more effort now needs to be put into making people believe that starting a business is a good career option so that entrepreneurial rates in the UK can improve.
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2007
