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42% of UK schoolchildren aspire to launch their own business

Jordan Williams | 16:56 Monday 10th July 2017

More than two-fifths (42%) of UK schoolchildren aged between eight and 16 years old want to launch their own business when they grow up, a new study has found.

<
p>Research by Barclays Business Banking has revealed that by 2025, the UK could produce almost 100,000 new businesses contributing an extra £23.3bn to the UK economy and create 400,000 new jobs.

However, currently only 6% of UK start-ups are run by entrepreneurs aged 25 and under.

Ian Rand, CEO of Barclays Business Banking, said: “Today's children are demonstrating new skills that have the potential to disrupt and innovate business and it's no surprise that the UK has a generation of ambitious entrepreneurs waiting in the wings.

“However, something is going wrong as this passion from the younger population is not translating into numbers of start-ups run by those aged 25 and under.”

More than one in seven (16%) of respondents thought that you needed to be an adult to start your own business, 11% believed that it was only open to rich people, while 9% thought you needed to do well at school.

Over a fifth (22%) of children said they wanted to start a digital business using skills such as vlogging, app building or video game design.

“If we want this talent and ambition to flourish, we all need to encourage children who should have access to the right tools and resources to convert their dreams into the businesses of the future,” Ian added.

“We're calling on the rest of the industry and government to get behind the next generation of entrepreneurs.”

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