Business start-up numbers 'could rise with training'

Date: 24th September 2009

Effectively-taught business training courses can boost future UK entrepreneurship, a report has indicated.

The latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor from Strathclyde University showed that Scotland is likely to be lagging behind other regions in terms of business start-up numbers.

According to a poll conducted by the academics, 43 per cent of people from European countries know someone who has started their own business over the past two years.

Among Scots, this total stood at just 20 per cent, with the actual business start-up rate the second-lowest of all UK regions.

The report recommended business education as a potential solution to this discrepancy, with training helping to encourage the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Dr Jonathan Levie, one of the report's authors, commented: "In Scotland, enterprise training in higher and further education doubles the chances of someone starting a business."

Professor Sara Carter, head of the university's Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, added: "Today's graduates are increasingly likely to work within small and medium sized firms as well as the corporate sector, and such training can help them make a real difference to their business' success."