Entrepreneurship cannot be taught, say small firms

There may have been an increase in the number of courses offering instruction in how to run a company but new research by UK Business Forums reveals two thirds of small business owners believe entrepreneurship cannot be taught.

The poll on www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk, the UK's most popular online forums for entrepreneurs*, found just 33% thought that the attributes of entrepreneurship can be learnt in the classroom. The remaining 67% were firmly of the view that they cannot be taught.

While many respondents to the survey said general business skills such as sales and marketing, time management and effective negotiation can be taught, most believed that entrepreneurial traits ñ like risk-taking, focus and sacrifice ñ are inherent.

Comments from survey respondents:

Business schools can turn out technocrats who may indeed turn out to be brilliant entrepreneurs, but then they would have been anyway.

I think there are natural entrepreneurs and they have certain traits that are inherent and cannot be acquired. I think it is also possible to acquire business skills and become business savvy but this is separate from being an entrepreneur.

An entrepreneur is born with an ability to takes risks, make money and think out of the box. It cannot be taught - you are born with it and very few get there.

Dan Martin, chairman of UK Business Forums, said: It is clear from our survey that entrepreneurs are firmly of the belief that while the basic of business can be taught in the classroom, when it actually comes to being a proper entrepreneur, these are skills which are natural and cannot be learnt from text books.

The number of hugely successful company founders who left school early but went on to make millions suggests our members may be right.

The vast amount of enterprise courses on offer may produce many so-called business experts but it looks like weíre not going to find the next generation of risk-taking entrepreneurs in the classroom.

* Based on independent research conducted in May 2007 by 10 Yetis Ltd.