I have recently started training two groups of young people who are on a temporary employment programme in Inverclyde, Scotland. I have been recruited by Inverclyde Council to deliver the training which aims to raise the trainees interest in and knowledge of business and self-employment. This is not meant to be a business start up training course – Business Gateway and the Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust will deal with that – but the aim is to create or develop an interest within the trainees.
Already four of the trainees have said that they intend to create their own businesses as soon as this is over. And some of the clever ideas I have seen are absolutely delightful. With the entrepreneurial attitudes of these young people I’m astonished that Scotland still lags so far behind in measures of business start-ups. The interest is there. The attitudes are right. What is stopping it happening?