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Friday, 2 August 2019
 

Dear <<First Name>>​,​​

This week we helped launch the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), which is led by Aston Business School's Professor Mark Hart and supported by NatWest.

The GEM is kind of a big deal in the world of entrepreneurship research. It
 tracks the rates of entrepreneurship across multiple phases in 49 economies, making it the world’s most authoritative comparative study of entrepreneurial activity in the general adult population.

I won't try to summarise the UK's full 88-page report, but here are two things that I found interesting.

Not so great expectations
We are a nation of entrepreneurs. One-fifth of working age individuals in the UK either intended to start a business within the next three years; were actively trying to start a business; or were running their own business. This has more or less been the case since 2011, and represents an increase on the previous long-run rate of around 1 in 6.

Early-stage entrepreneurial activity – the nascent entrepreneurship rate and
the new business owner-manager rate – also looks to be on trend (7.8%). Before the great recession the trend was more like 6%, so it's fair to say that over time we have become a more entrepreneurial country. However, this increase is largely in low expectation entrepreneurial activity, Just 1 in 6 UK early-stage entrepreneurs having high job expectations, which is lower than its comparator countries: US, France and Germany at 1 in 4.

A good gig
Gig economy workers are more entrepreneurial than many assume. In the UK, 4.3% of the population participate in the gig economy, but one
in 10 entrepreneurs are a gig economy worker – cutting across nascent entrepreneurs, through to new business owner and even established entrepreneurs.

As is concluded in the report "T
he gig economy seems to be an attractive way of working for those intending to start a business or who are in the early stages, with one in five future entrepreneurs working this way and one in ten nascent entrepreneurs. Given the flexibility inherent with this type of work it would seem ideal for those individuals who wish to spend time getting their business off the ground and earn a wage at the same time. The latter point is particularly important for those early-stage entrepreneurs who may not yet have a steady monthly income arising from their business venture."

Sukhpal of the UK
This week I interviewed Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia for my Forbes column. Sukhpal supported Job Creators – our recent Immigrant Founders report. Sukhpal's story is compelling: "I came to the UK when I was 13 with my parents and two brothers, fleeing the murderous regime of Idi Amin in Uganda. We left very quickly and we left everything behind, including the business that my family had worked so hard to build up. We arrived in the UK with literally just the clothes on our backs and ended up living in a refugee camp. That experience was formative for me." Read the whole thing here.

 
Our Next Event 
 
The Entrepreneurs Network would like to invite you to a lecture on 14th August with Dr. Nima Sanandaji on Brain Business Jobs – jobs that are crucial for income and productivity growth.

Nima will present the latest findings of the Brain Business Jobs index, a detailed measure of knowledge intensive jobs concentration in 30 European countries and 180 European regions. The in-depth study, funded by Nordic Capital, finds that the UK has the most knowledge-intensive business sector among the larger European economies, yet needs a boost in knowledge jobs creation to compete at the very top with countries such as Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark. 

Dr Nima Sanandaji is the president of the think tank ECEPR and author of 30 books on entrepreneurship and policy. Klas Tikkanen, COO of Nordic Capital, will also attend to comment the study.

 

Brain Business Jobs in the UK: A European Benchmark

14 August 2019
8am to 10am
NatWest Entrepreneur Accelerator, Regents House, 40-42 Islington High Street, London, N1 8XB
Free
Find out more
RSVP
 
News and Views
 
Free Ports are the new government's flagship post-Brexit policy to support manufacturing. Trade Secretary Liz Truss has announced a new advisory board to shape the policy.

...Public founder Daniel Korski, who's on the advisory board, explains the opportunity in a thread on Twitter.

 We need a new science of progress, say entrepreneur Patrick Collison and economist Tyler Cowen.

A new US bill could ban autoplay videos and infinite scrolling online.

How innovators defended automation during the Industrial Revolution by Anton Howes. Lessons for today?

How 'open everything' could solve the loyalty penalty in everything from energy to mobile phones.

Who are the influences behind Boris' new top advisor Dominic Cummings

The mental health costs  of starting a new business. (FT - Paywall)

Could a financial innovation solve Europe tech talent shortage?

 
Friends of the Network

EVENTS


Brand Britain: Creativity & Entrepreneurship in the Age of Brexit
4 September 2019
6.30pm to 9pm
WeWork No 1 Poultry, London
Free
Find out more
Hear from experts – including me – across the fields of international branding, cross-border commerce, and the UK's entrepreneurial ecosystem


Bruntwood Works Presents: An evening with Mike Bandar
4 September 2019
6pm to 8pm
Bruntwood, Cornwall House, Birmingham
Free
Find out more
An interview with award-winning entrepreneur Mike Bandar, founder of Turn Partners and Hopper HQ, on his successful business journey – followed by networking and free drinks.


IoD Cumbria | Finance for start ups to multinationals
5 September 2019
10:30am to 12:30pm
University of Cumbria, Carlisle
Free
Find out more
Website link:  
Finance options available for your business, regardless of its size or structure. You will hear from Grant Peggie from British Business Bank and a case study from Stuart MacLennan of Cows & Co.


E2E #ScaleUp2Success Leeds
12 September 2019 
6pm to 9.30pm
Spaces Park Row, Leeds
£20 (+VAT)
Find out more
With Peter Roberts, Founder of Pure Gym; Simon Biltcliffe, Founder & CEO, Webmart; and Sandy Chadha, CEO, Supreme Imports.


Scale Up Summit 2019
24 September 2019
8:30am to 5:00pm
Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London
£200 (+VAT)
Find out more
Join leaders from the fastest growing mid-market firms in Europe and the US for a day of intense interactive learning, networking and idea-generation.


Supporting New Businesses to Start and Scale-up in the UK
9 October 2019
8.30am to 1pm
Central London (tbc)
£230 (+VAT)
Find out more
This seminar will examine the priorities for policy if the Government is to achieve its aim – set out in the Industrial Strategy – of making ‘the UK the best place to start and grow a business’.


FutureFest 2020
20 March, 2020
10am to 10pm
Tobacco Dock
£25-£80
Find out more
FutureFest is based on the belief that the future is not something that happens to us, but something we can create.

 
Best,
 
Philip
Philip Salter
Founder, The Entrepreneurs Network

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