Creative Entrepreneurship

CREATIVEENTREPRENEURSHIP:

Methodologies & strategies to support the creative

industries sector

Professor David Raedrae@lincoln.ac.uk

Creative Entrepreneurship

Messages from young creative entrepreneurs ‘Being young is a challenge in itself – not being taken

seriously as business people by banks and accountants’

‘Focusing on progress and achievement with supportive peer review really helps’

‘Collaborative action and networking builds confidence’

‘Enterprise bursaries help reduce risk and fund start-up costs’

Creative Entrepreneurship

Questions to address:

• Why is there a need for creative entrepreneurship by young people?

• Why the creative industries sector?

• What do we aim to achieve? • What do young entrepreneurs want and need?

• How can we achieve our goals?• What approaches do we know that work?

• Who needs to work together?• What resources and initiatives are required?

Creative Entrepreneurship

Our challenge

As enterprise educators we face the biggest challenge and opportunity of our generation in the post 2008 era:

How to provide the confidence, skills and tools which will inspire and enable young people to start their working lives and to achieve economic and social regeneration through enterprise.

Creative Entrepreneurship

Why is there a need for creative entrepreneurship by young people?

• Worklessness is a major social & economic problem for the next decade

• Corporate & public sectors cannot provide the jobs required

• Creative thinking is required to create the new jobs

• Investing in young people & creativity will show economic & social returns

Creative Entrepreneurship

Creativity & creative industries

Are the ‘creative industries’ too narrow or an artificial definition?

Creativity is required in all organisations:• Creative problem-solving• Creating opportunities• Designing & innovating new products, services, experiences• Creative communications & marketing channels• Creative uses of new technology• Creative social enterprises & social spaces

Creative Entrepreneurship

What do we aim to achieve?

• Increase entrepreneurial potential & aspirations of young people?

• Enhance creativity in society?• Increase in ventures created?• Provide socially & economically useful services

for communities?• Provide useful jobs? • All of these? Choices affect the actions we take.

Creative Entrepreneurship

What do young entrepreneurs want & need?Many have:• Ideas & imagination• Energy & passion• New technology know-

how• Perceive opportunities

we do not• Do not know what

cannot be done

Many require:• € Resources• Experience• Self belief• Business skills &

knowledge• Access to business &

social networks• Ability to convince the

bank manager

Creative Entrepreneurship

How? Entrepreneurial learning – a vital capability for the new era

• Learning to work as an entrepreneur by acting opportunistically & creatively

• Experiential discovery-led learning by doing from primary to Higher Education

• Applied creativity• Engage business people and communities in

the learning process – outside the classroom

Creative Entrepreneurship

Every one of us is a creative person!

We can have ideas and do things with

them!

Creative Entrepreneurship

Turning winning ideas > opportunities

1. Problems & needs

3. Innovations & solutions

2. Who is it for?

4. How to make it happen

Creative Entrepreneurship

What can students gain from enterprising learning?

• Purposeful, stimulating & engaging learning• Relevant to their lives & careers• Investigating ‘real’ problems and exploring opportunities• Personal growth & social confidence, energises them to succeed• Experiential, practical, work and community situated learning• Provides supporting business skills & know-how• Alumni, practitioners and entrepreneurs contribute to learning • Risk, uncertainty and ambiguity to develop students’ judgement• ‘Feel the enterprise experience’ – emotional engagement

Creative Entrepreneurship

Opportunity centred entrepreneurship

Acting on

opportunity

Planning to realise

opportunity

OPPORTUNITY

CENTRED

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Creating &

exploring

opportunity

Personal enterprise

What do I want?Personal goalsSkills & strengthsConfidence & self efficacyValues & motivations

Creative thinkingExploring ideasSeeing needs as opportunitiesTaking initiative

Planning:GoalsWhat is success? How-to?Who with?Resources

NetworkingCreating & using contactsCommunicating effectivelySelf marketingLearning from experience

Creative Entrepreneurship

A new paradigm for entrepreneurship?

Old e-ship (US/UK?)• Individualist• Neo-liberal capitalism• Opportunity pursuit regardless

of consequences• Business driven: short term

profitability & growth• Value creation solely financial• Exploits & wastes resources• Exclusive role models• Masculine attributes:

aggression, power, conflict

New e-ship (European?)• Individual-team leadership• Networked & collectivist• Socially connected & inclusive• Ethically responsible• Sensitive to resource

conservation & re-use• Multiple forms of value

creation• Economically &

environmentally sustainable• Feminine values: relational,

collaborative, intuitive• Grassroots enterprise

This change can be achieved though education, practice & leadership

Creative Entrepreneurship

New connections for creative entrepreneurship

Connect People

Students Educators

Entrepreneurs& business networks

Government agencies

Communities

Generate

Ideas

Problems & opportunities

Purpose & commitment

Confidence to act

Resources

VenturesTeams Support

Results

Creative Entrepreneurship

Latent resource entrepreneurship

Find new uses for resources being wasted - e.g. by big organisations in recession:

• Resources (people, property, IP, technology, capacity, finance, knowledge)

+• Opportunities (creative problem-solving)

+• Facilitation support (people learning in teams)

=• Venture projects (create value, jobs & solve problems)

Creative Entrepreneurship

Examples of what works

Enterprising learning:

• Enterprise in the 12-16 curriculum

• Junior Achievement/Young Enterprise

in schools

• Prince’s Trust supporting disadvantaged young entrepreneurs (18-30)

Creative Entrepreneurship

Student business start-up• SPEED: 750 students started businesses 2006-8• Enterprise Inc. student & graduate start-ups (ERDF)• Based on bursaries + support

http://www.emincubation.co.uk/main/Enterprise_Inc• Student enterprise clubs & societies – NACUE

www.nacue.com• National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship

www.ncge.com

Creative Entrepreneurship

Creative Entrepreneurship

Creative Entrepreneurship

Creative Entrepreneurship

Creative Entrepreneurship

The aim:

• To assist business improvement through innovation

How:

• Company-specific development projects with students and graduates

• Introduce & exploit new opportunities, markets, products, services• Increase productivity & efficient use of resources• Improve competitive edge: survival and growth• Make money

• Enhance graduate employability and retention.• Create and safeguard jobs

What is Access Innovation?

Creative Entrepreneurship

Summary

• Our leadership is essential to connect people & organisations

• Support young people’s & student enterprise clubs & societies

• Applied creativity & learning by doing• Use the new technology• Invest resources & support• Collaborative innovation by young people,

education, business, communities & public sector is the way forward.

Creative Entrepreneurship

Featured book: Opportunity Centred

Entrepreneurship

‘Entrepreneurship: from Opportunity to Action’

© Professor David Rae: Palgrave MacMillan 2007

www.palgrave.com/business/rae/

Chapter 1 & tools downloadable free on website

Lowest price: www.bookdepository.co.uk drae@lincoln.ac.uk