Brown helps out young entrepreneurs

Thursday, 17 November 2005 12:00 AM

Budding entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to learn about basic commerce and business techniques under a new government scheme to encourage innovation.

Chancellor Gordon Brown said the plans to fund 11 summer schools, with 600 places in total, across Britain would boost people's confidence to set up their own businesses.

He predicted a "huge demand" for the first school, planned for next summer, and said he hoped private investors would take up the mantle after that and fund further programmes.

"The problem in Britain has been there's loads of people who have had ideas and insights and lots of creative talent and they haven't had the chance to develop it," Mr Brown told the BBC's Breakfast.

"I don't think we are short of people with ideas and imagination. But I think in Britain the idea of taking risks has been seen as too difficult for people."

The summer schools would bring in top managers to show young people what they can achieve, he said, giving people "master-classes" on how to start a business and teaching them about basic finance, commerce and basic business techniques.

Today's plans are being launched as part of enterprise week, and come after the chancellor expressed his concern that, while there are more than 577,000 more businesses operating in Britain now than in 1997, start-up rates are still half those in the US.

Writing in the Financial Timeson Monday, Mr Brown called for a "Britain of ambition, where there is no ceiling on talent, no limit to potential, no cap on ability", and where young people were helped to fulfil their potential in all subjects, including business.

Today's summer school programmes would help this, he said, as would plans to have all schools offering enterprise as a subject at school by 2006, up from just 15 per cent in 1997.

In addition, in next month's pre-Budget report, Mr Brown is set to announce details of new enterprise scholarships to allow British students to visit the US and learn commerce skills.

"In the coming years I want to see an even stronger spirit of entrepreneurship in our country - young people challenged to do better," he wrote.

"And I believe that by building on our stability, our creativity, our belief in hard work and education, and our openness to the world, we can achieve this."

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