70% of Gen Ys want to run their own business

Many managers currently working with the ambitions and expectations of their Gen Y staff would not be too shocked with this finding. They know that most Gen Ys believe they should be running the business already. So it is no surprise that 70% of these Gen Ys harbour a vision of one day running their own business. And that ‘one-day’ is not too far away.

This is what the initial findings into the entrepreneurial aspirations of young Australians are finding. The Frank Team has decided to release some early data that is surfacing in their research into young Australians under the age of 35 and their career aspirations.

The Frank Team was founded by young entrepreneur Jessica Kiely and has been working with young entrepreneurs for the last six years. They were seeing more young Australians recognising the need to be entrepreneurial in their careers to get to where they want to, and a large majority having the desire to run their own business at some stage in their careers. However, despite these realisations there were lacking in opportunities to develop these skills and ideas further. The only other research that has been conducted in this area was a research and scoping paper by the Department of Family and Community Services in 2003 that found there were 170,000 young people under the age of 30 currently running their own business.

70% of respondents in the current survey indicated they think they will start a new business venture in the future. The most common barriers to starting their new business venture were all practical in nature, not attitudinal. These barriers included needing start up capital/finance (68%), their idea needed more development (50%) and the need for more education & training (40%).

A range of assistance options were identified by the respondents that they would use if available to help them start their business. The top rated ones were financing (74%), advice (56%), networking with other young entrepreneurs (55%) and training programs (55%).

It was also found that 76% of respondents rated entrepreneurial skills as highly important for their careers. When you consider also that in an average career today’s learner will have 10 – 14 jobs by the age of 38, and most of the jobs that will be in demand in 10 years from now don’t even exist yet, it is clear this entrepreneurial attitude and skills base is essential. So if the skills of innovation, educated risk taking, creativity, negotiation, thought leadership and the other entrepreneurial traits are essential, are they being taught within our schools and tertiary institutions? Our education systems are still designed to produce students with an employee mentality not an employer mentality.

Not only are we missing out on the opportunity to build that entrepreneurial attitude in our youth to get them through this Career phase, but it appears that our organisations are also not harnessing the ideas and enthusiasm of its younger workers. 84% of respondents have suggested an idea to their employer in their careers, and a good majority (68%) are highly comfortable with suggesting an idea to their employer. However, in contrast to the entrepreneurialism of these respondents, only 35% felt their employer was highly supportive of new ideas.

Sure any entrepreneur worth their weight in Richard-BransonNESS can make success happen despite a lack of anything really, but there would no doubt be more starters and faster growth if some of these key resources currently available to the adult market, were also made available to this emerging market in a manner that was relevant and engaging to their styles.

The Frank Team wish to extend the survey reach to build an even better picture of youth entrepreneurship in Australia today. This will help to inform policy and business practices that will assist Australia to remain at the forefront of innovation & business success by utilising and unleashing the entrepreneurial talents of its youth. Please get your young people to visit www.frankteam.com.au and click on the survey link at the bottom of the page.

What are you currently doing to inspire and develop the entrepreneurial skills of your young people or for yourself?

The Frank Team has a range of programs for schools, tertiary organisations and government departments to utilise to develop the entrepreneurial skills and ideas of their young people. Contact us for more info today.