Enterprise : Start-ups
Director Magazine, November 2005
How different are today’s entrepreneurs from their predecessors?
Publishing entrepreneurs Tony Eilliott founded the listings magazine Time Out in 1968 at the tender age of 21, with a personal investment of £70. Nearly four decades on he believes that opportunities have become more plentiful as the world has evolved. He explains: “Life has got bigger, and more colourful. The scale of the world has opened up, and people are now seem to start companies for personal reasons and for their own enjoyment", which, he feels, are the best motivations of all.
The nine budding young entrepreneurs we spoke to – all 25 years old or under – echoed Eillott’s view. One of the most important they want from their businesses was to have fun and, in many instances, to pursue a hobby. Money, although a factor did not appear to have been their driving force.
Whereas greed is no longer a motivation factor, hunger for success most certainly is. Director’s nine “young guns” all have a desire to build businesses out of personal interests, whether its aviation, invention, golf, art or gardening- the desire to create something by far outweighs the financial reward.
Garden designer Alice Bowe, a 25-year-old finalist in the Young Entrepreneurs of the Year category at this year’s Startup.co.uk awards, founder her company, Alice Bowe English landscape and Garden Design, early this year. Business is booming and as far as Bowe is concerned,
“making money is a means to an end, it’s not simply about making money”.
Doing something she enjoys is far more important. Having had no formal business training, Bowe believes the skills she has picked up are the one you can’t teach, like trusting your instincts.
As she says:
“I’m not brilliant at one thing, but I’m good at learning”,
citing how when she couldn’t afford a web designer, she taught herself...
