Sir Tom Hunter callled for greater ambition among would-be entrepreneurs this week despite new research pointing to an increase in the number of Scots hoping to set up in business.
The latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor study found the number of Scots considering going down the self-start route in 2011 was significantly higher at 9.8% in 2011, compared to just 6% in 2010.
However, the report found that access to finance and recruitment concerns remained major barriers to new business start-ups north of the border.
Report author Professor Jonathan Levie of Strathclyde University’s Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship said: ”It is encouraging that entrepreneurial intention has increased and this could lead to an increase in actual new business creation rates over the next year or two.
”The long, slow decline in early-stage entrepreneurial activity also appears to have been arrested, if not reversed, in 2011.
”However, while there is room for optimism, more needs to be done to turn the intention to start a business into reality. Scottish entrepreneurs still face challenges in getting funding, customers and staff.
”There is also considerable scepticism across the Scottish public about the wisdom of embarking on an entrepreneurial career, despite the relatively high status afforded to successful entrepreneurs.”
Sir Tom who founded the Sports Division retail chain and remains one of Scotland’s most prominent entrepreneurs said the study was encouraging but entrepreneurs were still too few and far between and Scotland needed to ”get on with it.”
He said: ”There are signs that the decline in early stage entrepreneurial activity has halted. The report shows that the proportion of working-age individuals who intend to start a business has also increased, but if we are to succeed on a global stage, we need to do more.
”In many areas we are no longer lagging behind the rest of the UK. Perhaps some of our initiatives in education are now starting to bear fruit, as founders’ knowledge of how to start in business in Scotland compares favourably to the UK.
”Now we need ambition that avoids or jumps the hurdles.”
Colin Borland of the Federation of Small Businesses’ said there was still a significant gap between the perception of running your own business and the reality.
He said: ”If we burst the myth that the entrepreneurial spirit is dead in Scotland, our next job is dismissing the tired idea that, if a business’s growth ambitions aren’t stratospheric, it isn’t valuable to the Scottish economy.
”Scotland needs all types and sizes of businesses whether it is the mid-sized business on the verge of going global or the self-employed tradesperson earning enough to support themselves and their family.
”We should start with encouraging more people to develop the skills valuable in most modern enterprises this will serve them and the economy well while they’re an employee and if they become employer.”
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