Partner Article

Student Start-ups Soar

New research conducted by PeoplePerHour (PPH), the UK’s leading online freelance marketplace, the time for stereotypes is at an end with today’s students eschewing the partying in favour of entrepreneurship.

In the last twelve months, the number of businesses started by students has increased by a whopping 42 per cent. According to the PPH research, this figure has been led in no small way by the uncertainty that undergrads feel in regards to the economy and the availability of suitable employment opportunities, post-graduation. In a survey, which took in the views of 1549 new business founders, more than two thirds (67%) of respondents said that the lack of job security was a major influence upon their decision to go it alone and set up a business. A further one in two (49%) said that they had started their own business as a student in order to earn extra cash and reduce their debts, while 35 per cent claimed that they had always planned to be their own boss, so they had simply started early.

The flexibility of student life, enhanced by the ability to work on the go thanks to smartphones and other contemporary tech, was one of the many reasons that students viewed their time at university as being ideal for making their first foray into the business world. Almost a third (29%) said that they worked between lectures, a quarter (25%) said that they often conducted their business while out socialising, while 11 per cent even claimed to have worked on their business idea during classes – not something that will go down well with many lecturers.

To shoot down another stereotype, it also seems that there’s no shortage of motivation amongst students once they have developed a business concept, with more than a third (36%) claiming to have got their business up and running within just three months. A further 24 per cent said it took them between 3-6 months. Only one in five (19%) of those surveyed said it had taken them longer than twelve months from conceiving the business idea to making their first money.

Xenios Thrasyvoulou, founder and CEO of PeoplePerHour, comments: ‘It’s really encouraging to see such a great spirit of entrepreneurialism amongst young people. This is exactly what we need to ensure that we don’t return to the days of recession. For too long the world’s great economies relied upon a handful of big businesses to lead the way. It only took a small wobble to bring the whole lot crashing down.

‘Students often get a bad rap, but they’re full of creativity and when they combine that with determination, the results can be astounding. Rather than relying on other people, it seems that this generation of students are determined to make it on their own; carving their own way across the business landscape. And who knows – one of them could just be the next Richard Branson.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Xenios Thrasyvoulou .