Explore what makes a successful entrepreneur with insights from volunteer Youth Ambassadors and Special Guests attending our Youth Voice Forum.
The following insights in response to the questions ‘What is an entrepreneur?’ and ‘What makes a successful entrepreneur?’ have been compiled by young people and youth-friendly experts as part of our regular online Youth Voice Forum, with thanks to all attendees including Chair Charlotte Jeffreys, Special Guest Ellie Taylor, and our amazing volunteer Youth Ambassadors.
What is the definition of a young entrepreneur?
Nyasha: I think for me, a young entrepreneur is someone who is starting something of their own and I think it can be in different ways. It could be for profit. A business could be registered or not registered. You could be a social entrepreneur or running a non-profit. It’s also just having the initiative and doing something of your own accord. You could be intrapreneurial and you’re doing that within an organisation.
Ed: I know the official definition might be someone who sets up a business but I’ve always thought of it as someone who has business knowledge and commercial awareness.
Success can mean your business doesn’t depend on you
Nyasha: it’s about whether your business can run itself. You’ve been the driving force behind something, and can you now stand in the background and watch it happen because of what you have set up?
Practical vs creative success as a young entrepreneur
Josh: I think there’s a couple of ways you can look at it.
You can look at the functional side of it, having a business that makes money, that doesn’t make a loss, that meets the clients’ needs.
There’s also the creative side of it. It’s not necessarily innovation, but constantly making your product or service better for the customers or clients involved.
Youth Ambassador: it helps the entrepreneur become financially self-sufficient and live a happy life.
Youth Ambassador: being an entrepreneur is using your amazing ideas, feeding it into the community, and developing contacts and support.
Being a successful entrepreneur is down to your own perceptions and definitions
Ellie: Even now, it’s weird referring to myself as an entrepreneur because I just view myself as Ellie. It’s hard to see myself as an entrepreneur, even though I am, but I think with myself and many other entrepreneurs, you always want to get to that next level. For me, it’s about finding exciting new ways to grow my business and then maybe I’ll get to that stage and think ‘I feel like one now’ but it never really comes. I don’t refer to myself as an entrepreneur, I usually refer to myself as a small business owner.
Charlotte: It’s so interesting that maybe there is a threshold that you can meet and that’s when you feel like you’re actually an entrepreneur. There’s almost an association between ‘entrepreneur’ and ‘successful’.
What I’ve heard young people describe is that being an entrepreneur is almost exactly the same as being successful in that until you’ve reached whatever your own threshold is of success, you don’t feel like an entrepreneur.
Volunteer with us
Would you like to volunteer with us if you are aged 16-24 and care about your future? You can build your skills, confidence, and CV online or at exciting local events near you as a volunteer Youth Ambassador. You can also take part in our regular Youth Voice Forum.
