Welcome to the Make Your Mark’s Enterprise Insights where only the most interesting enterprise developments and stories are delivered to you fortnightly.

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Real-world education and skills

Future fit: Preparing graduates for the world of work (CBI/ UUK – pdf: 2.45MB)

Employability skills, including an entrepreneurial mindset, as well as a positive attitude, are ranked by employers as the most important factors considered when recruiting graduates, according to a new report by the CBI and Universities UK. Whilst 78% and 72% of companies respectively ranked these two factors as important, just 28% considered a graduate’s degree results and only 8% considered the University attended. The report suggests ways that universities, businesses and students can do more to increase employability skills, and highlights excellent practice – including the newly launched ‘Enternships.com’ that provides work placements in SMEs for entrepreneurial students.

Creating enterprising places

Creating an enterprising London requires a focus on creating an enterprise culture not just promoting more business start-ups – understanding the attitudes and motivations of individuals and drawing on excellent practice occurring elsewhere, Enterprise Insight has suggested to the London Assembly. Enterprise Insight’s response to the Economic Development, Culture, Sport and Tourism Committee’s review of support for start-ups in the Capital, also highlights the innovative ways Make Your Mark operate and new work planned for the future.

Supporting London’s Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Entrepreneurs during the Recession (British Library Business & IP Centre – pdf: 440KB)

Entrepreneurs want to be more prepared during the recession – seeking advice on market research and business planning, according to analysis of support requests by the British Library’s Business & IP Centre. The Centre, which has helped over 90,000 would-be entrepreneurs and business people in its first three years, also reported that confidence in the economy is growing amongst this audience – with 40% of those surveyed responding as confident or very confident about the short-term future of the economy.

Unlocking enterprise potential

Breaking the link between disadvantage and low attainment (DCSF – pdf: 2.14MB)

Positive role models and the development of empowering community networks should be encouraged by schools and Local Authorities, in order to bridge the attainment gap for disadvantaged students, according to the first in a series of reports in this area by DCSF. The report notes that the attainment of disadvantaged pupils has improved significantly – with the poorest 15% who get 5 or more GCSEs (including Maths and English) rising from 15% in 2002 to 23.5% in 2008 – but that the Government’s aim must be to break the link between disadvantage and attainment completely.

In the media

Chairman of Enterprise Insight, Peter Jones, has been asked by DIUS to lead a review of support available for entrepreneurs through Further and Higher Education. The report is due to be published early this summer.

British businesses are suggesting that the recession is no longer worsening as sharply, with 36% now saying that availability of new credit had deteriorated in the past three months, compared to 59% holding this view in February, figures from the CBI’s monthly Access to Finance survey reveal.

The number of new UK start-ups increased by 1% last year, according to figures released by Barclays. It also appears that female entrepreneurs may be closing the gap on men – with a 9% increase in female only start-ups compared to a less than 1% increase in male-only start-ups.

Manchester and London have dropped from being the 3rd and 5th top European cities that entrepreneurs want to start a business in, in 2007, to 35th and 29th respectively, according to a survey of entrepreneurs in 37 European cities.

Shell STEP has launched again this year, offering enterprising undergraduates - and for the first time, recent graduates – work placements with SMEs and the chance to be crowned the UK’s ‘Most Enterprising Student’.