Attitudinal data for people aged 18-64 in the UK who are not already nascent entrepreneurs or business owners/managers shows of those surveyed:
- 24% know someone what has started a business in the last two years
- 27% agree that there are good start-up opportunities where they live in the next six months
- 44% agree they have the skills, knowledge and experience to start a business
- 38% agreed that fear of failure would prevent them starting a business (for those who agree there are good start-up opportunities)
So how does this compare to last years figures?
As in 2007, the UK has a small percentage of non-entrepreneurs of working age who personally knew someone who had started a business. Of the UK regions, Londoners (28.7%) were significantly more likely to agree to knowing someone who had started in business than those in the West Midlands (20.7%), North West (21.1%), North East (21.5%), Scotland (20.2%) or Yorkshire and Humber (21.4%).
There was a drop this year in the number of people who agreed that there are good start-up opportunities where they live in the next six months from 35% in 2007 to 27% in the 2008 survey. Those agreeing in 2008 that they had the skills, experience and knowledge to start a business dropped one percentage point. Fear of failure remained the same as in 2007. However, the gap in fear of failure between males and females has widened. Data shows that in 2007 38.6% of women felt fear of failure would prevent them from starting a business this has risen to 41.4% in the 2008 survey.
Other comparisons that the report highlights which may be of interest to EnterpriseUpfront readers are that:
- In 2007, 53.4% of people surveyed agreed that most people considered starting a business a good career choice while in 2008 this figure dropped to 52.1%
- In 2007, 56.8% of people survey agreed that you often see stories about people starting successful new businesses in the media, this figure dropped to 52.4% in 2008
Analysis of entrepreneurial activity by region shows that London has twice the number of people expecting to start a business in the next three years than any other UK region.
Number of people expecting to start a business in the next three years – regional data:
East of England 5.8%
East Midlands 6.8%
London 12.5%
North East 6.2%
North West 6.1%
Northern Ireland 6.1%
Scotland 5.1%
South East 6.2%
South West 6.3%
Wales 5.5%
West Midlands 6.0%
Yorkshire and Humberside 5.5%
UK 6.8%
To download a copy of the GEM UK 2008 Report visit www.gemconsortium.org/files.aspx?Ca_ID=107