Newswise — The largest, annual survey of social entrepreneurial activity (SEA) in the United Kingdom shows that young people are more likely to be social entrepreneurs than any other age grouping: 3.9% of those in the 18 " 24 year-old category would pursue a socially minded enterprise, compared to only 2.75 of those over 55. Similarly, education is a strong predictor of social entrepreneurial activity, and those in full time education are the most likely group to be SEA active (5%).
This is one of the key findings of the second annual Social Enterprise Monitor Report from London Business School. The report, sponsored by Barclays, examines enterprise activity with social or community goals as its base, and where the profit is invested in the activity or venture itself rather than returned to investors. It is published by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) UK. GEM is directed by Babson College and the London Business School. Visit http://www.gemconsortium.org.
Other key findings include:
"¢ Social entrepreneurship is an important phenomenon across the UK at some 3.2 % of the working age population or nearly 1.2 million adults. Social entrepreneurs are a distinct group with more positive attitudes than the general UK adult population but less positive attitudes than mainstream entrepreneurs.
"¢ Social entrepreneurs are a distinct group of individuals with definite and more positive attitudes towards enterprise than their traditional entrepreneurial counterparts, and are driven by the desire to make a social or community difference, but constrained by the very realistic fear of not getting finance.
"¢ Which means that, as social entrepreneurs become more experienced, it appears from the data that they become more disillusioned with entrepreneurship and see fewer opportunities, are more likely to fear failure and less likely to see it as a good career choice.
"¢ Women are proportionately more likely to be social than mainstream entrepreneurs despite the fact that overall men are more likely to be social entrepreneurs than women (3.6% compared to 2.8%). The percentage of women managing an established social enterprise is marginally higher than those managing a baby enterprise, while for men there is no difference in these two activities.
"¢ There is a greater likelihood that social enterprises will become not-for-profits or charities as they become more established, but even so, the majority of enterprises are not charities either at the baby or the more established stage.
"¢ The profile of financing is similar to that of mainstream entrepreneurs. However, social entrepreneurs are proportionately more likely to have failed to gain access to finance because of the nature of their business. Interestingly, inadequate business planning is not the largest factor for established social enterprises, but unwillingness to share and the costs of finance.
"¢ Those in rural locations are more socially entrepreneurial than those in urban regions.
"¢ Black Africans and Black Caribbeans are, respectively, three times and two times more likely than Whites to be social entrepreneurs.
The report's author, Dr. Rebecca Harding, says, "The importance of understanding the motivations of social entrepreneurs and the role that the enterprises they establish have to play in generating wealth in the UK in terms of jobs and income as well as in terms of welfare, cannot be understated. Entrepreneurship has tremendous power to transform and change society."
Dr. Harding went on to emphasize the important role of social entrepreneurship in society, pointing not only to the economic contribution of socially-minded entrepreneurial businesses, but also the applicability of such ventures in tackling important social concerns, adding, "they may even be a better driver of regeneration and employment in deprived communities than orthodox activity."
She added that "The government is placing increasing emphasis on social entrepreneurship following its recent review. The report demonstrates that training can have a huge impact on levels of social entrepreneurial activity among women in particular. If we are to build an entrepreneurial culture around this new, socially and environmentally sustainable business model then we should be attempting to change cultures and attitudes from school upwards. Our evidence suggests that training would be a good way of doing this, especially for excluded groups."
The full report is available at http://www.gemconsortium.org/document.asp?id=501
London Business School's Vision is to be the pre-minent global business school, nurturing talent and advancing knowledge in a multi-national, multicultural environment. Founded in 1965, the School graduated over 800 MBAs, Executive MBAs, Masters in Finance, Sloan Fellows and PhDs from over 70 countries last year. The School's executive education department serves over 6,000 executives on its programmes every year. London Business School is based in the most accessible and international city in the world and is one of only two UK business schools to have twice been awarded the highest research rating of five-star (5*), by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), confirming the School as a centre of world-class research in business and management. http://www.london.edu
Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., is recognized internationally as a leader in entrepreneurial management education. Babson grants BS degrees through its innovative undergraduate program, and grants MBA and custom MS and MBA degrees through the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College. Babson Executive Education offers executive development programs to experienced managers worldwide. For information, visit http://www.babson.edu.
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