The Scout Association (TSA) launched their new
'entrepreneur' badge today with the help of multimillionaire and
Homeserve CEO Richard Harpin, encouraging a whopping 400,000 young
people to immerse themselves in the world of business. (Scouts have
to pitch a short business proposal to a Dragons Den-style panel of
judges to gain the award.)
And we're very glad to hear it.
We've long sung the praises of how beneficial it can be to young people to learn
about and engage with entrepreneurship. And learning
entrepreneurial skills is becoming more vital to young people now
than ever before.
With one in four university graduates facing
unemployment, job prospects for this generation are looking grim.
Britain's youngsters need all the help they can get - and learning
business skills, and especially having started a successful small
business for themselves, is a stand-out addition to any CV or UCAS
form.
The Scout Association isn't the only organisation recognising
this: there is a growing trend in schools and youth organisations
to encourage entrepreneurism amongst youngsters. Among our
favourite examples is Enterprise UK's 'Make Your Mark with a
Tenner' competition, which gives individuals £10 and challenges
them to make as much money as they can. Its participant numbers
doubled between 2007 (when it launched) and 2008.
We're also big fans of Young Enterprise, the more long-standing
organisation that encourages young people in schools to start
businesses and offers support while they do. People who take part
in the YE scheme end up more likely to feel fulfilled by subsequent
jobs, more confident, and on higher salaries.
There are countless other brilliant organisation and schemes
like these all over the UK - but the point is, young people are
being more entrepreneurial, and it's doing them good. And they want
to learn this stuff too: it was Scouts themselves who asked for the
new entrepreneurship badge to be created. They're taking control of
their own futures in an evermore competitive job market.
And while the new badge may ruffle the feathers of
traditionalists who believe that scouting should be no more than
learning how to tie knots or make a fire with nothing but a stick
and a prayer, bigger players in the organisation are realising the
broader benefits to society of showing young people the
entrepreneurial ropes.
As Simon Carter, assistant director at The Scout Association
said: "There has never been a more important time to encourage
entrepreneurship in this country. We hope this scheme and awards
will foster the business leaders of tomorrow that our country
needs."
Hear, hear.
Listen to TSA's Simon Carter and scout Grace Denny
discuss Scout-style entrepreneurship here and find out more about it here.