DEMOS

Enterprise is all too often associated with making money. Yet, there is so much more to it: enterprise is about creating a culture of initiative, creativity, risk-taking amongst young people and adults. It is about using entrepreneurial energy to drive change.

Britain is doing well when it comes to enterprise. More people are trading on E-bay than ever before and TV programmes like the Dragons Den and the Apprentice are extremely popular. Small firms and individual entrepreneurs also greatly contribute to the British economy and dynamism.

But is there more to it? This collection argues that a successful and thriving enterprise nation will have to go much further than that. The future face of enterprise is one that will need to start at home and at school; that will be found in basements and small offices as well as in big corporations and the web. It will require new skills and new talent to answer to the challenges of tomorrow.  There is already a strong desire among young people to use their ideas for change, but more needs to be done to cultivate the mindsets and foster the support that tomorrow's entrepreneurs will need if young people are not to be discouraged from trying.

For enterprise to really leave its mark, it will need the right terrain for it to thrive on. Building an enterprise culture that is fit for the twenty-first century depends on exploiting these new emerging possibilities. Much will need changing: from what's in our textbooks to how society incentivises risk-taking. This collection of essays articulates some of the key features of the future face of enterprise. Progressing this thinking into ideas for action is now the next challenge.

Edited by Shawnee Keck and Alessandra Buonfino

This project has been undertaken with the support of the make your mark campaign.

If you have insights or ideas about the future face of enterprise, you can contribute to their campaign website at http://makeyourmark.org.uk/