The Princes Scottish Youth Business Trust helped a record number of businesses get
started in the year to the end of June as growing numbers of young people were attracted to enterprise.
The charity launched by Prince Charles to help 18 to 25-year-olds provided seedcorn funding for 509 new ventures in the latest period, up from 476 last time, following a surge in the number of enquiries from young hopefuls. Mark Strudwick, the trust's chief executive, said the third successive
annual increase in the number of new firms given support reflected a growing awareness on the part of young people
of the possible advantages of going into business for
themselves.
The phenomenon was not confined to the country's universities, in which big sums have been invested, encouraging bright sparks to develop entrepreneurial awareness. Only 20% of the firms launched with PSYBT support last year were founded by university graduates, said Strudwick, who noted a growing entrepreneurial interest among youngsters with vocational qualifications.
Sixteen percent of new firms were launched by people with no qualifications.
More than three years after the dot.com bubble burst, internet services remained the most popular field of activity for the founders of new firms, with retailing in second place. As PSYBT had approved only around 25% of the 2320 initial applications the organisation received, there was no question that assessment standards had been dropped, said Strudwick. In recent years, around 80% of firms backed by PSYBT have survived at least one year,
while 54% have completed three years in business.
PSYBT, which relies on funding from wealthy individuals, trusts and corporations for the money it distributes to applicants, provided (pounds) 2.1m in soft loan funding, up from (pounds) 1.75m last time.
A large part of the increase was accounted for by awards made under a new (pounds) 400,000 development fund that was established to provide additional development loans to companies with fast-growth potential. The fund, which was launched last June with (pounds) 125,000 backing from Tom Hunter, the serial entrepreneur, has supported 21 companies
so far.
PSYBT received around (pounds) 840,000 in support for
central overheads from Scottish Enterprise and (pounds) 65,000 from Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
Meanwhile, the organisation has launched its latest Young Entrepreneur of the Year competition, backed by Royal Bank of Scotland.
The awards, which carry a top prize of (pounds) 1500, are open to all PSYBT-backed firms that started trading between July 2000 and June 2002.
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