Looking to the future

Understanding the effectiveness of enterprise support programmes and devising new ways to improve their success rates is a critical part of the drive to raise regional and national productivity levels and encourage entrepreneurship.

Young people and entrepreneurship

The One NorthEast Enterprise Support programme aims to encourage entrepreneurs and support business creation in a region recently identified as having the lowest Total Entrepreneurial Activity rate in the UK at 3.8% of the adult population.

A vital element of the programme to develop a more enterprising region and generate greater numbers of company start-ups is the encouragement given to young entrepreneurs.

QA Research recently evaluated a key element of the programme: Future Entrepreneurs. Focus groups with young people and interviews with key local stakeholders assessed the impact of the programme, and investigated attitudes to enterprise, willingness to run businesses, and barriers to starting a business.

Engaging with tomorrow’s entrepreneurs

The research revealed three key findings which One NorthEast and other organisations responsible for promoting entrepreneurship to young people can use.

• Young people are influenced by effective, interesting educational experiences. Real world examples that young people can relate to, such as entrepreneurs from the local business community, work particularly well when presented as success stories
• Hands on interactive projects that allow young people to demonstrate their individual skills have the most benefit
• More teaching of enterprise activities and embedding enterprise skills more deeply into the everyday curriculum will have a positive impact on the Future Entrepreneurs programme

One NorthEast now has a report detailing research findings and key recommendations to inform future delivery of the Enterprise Support Programme.