Lacking in experience? Immature? Irresponsible? Clueless?.. “Ok, Boomer.”
While this may be how some people see Millennials and Generation Z, many young people are actually taking the future into their own hands and forging new business frontiers.
Young people are tired of having their concerns ignored over everything from the environment to securing a stable future for themselves in a world where a job for life no longer exists. And as for being characterised as lazy, or entitled ‘snowflakes?' Well, the clapback has begun.
Young entrepreneurs in the UK are on the rise, with the Enterprise Research Centre reporting last year that those aged 25-34 in the UK are “significantly more likely to be involved in early stage activity than 45-64 year olds”. Younger generations are beginning to reject the 9-5 to kick off their own enterprises, with many starting as a ‘hustle’ or bedroom-business.
Watch as these business-owners tell it like it is about their experience of being young and in charge:
Young and in charge - Is youth an advantage in business?
Kayode: Forget age, I think it’s irrelevant. Once you demonstrate your expertise to demonstrate your knowledge, the other person will be stupid not to take you seriously!
James: If you’ve got a good idea, it’s a good idea, whether you’re 100 or you're 10.
Tom: If you are young now, there’s never been more ways to make money and crack on.
James: Yeah.
Jordan: There shouldn’t be any age barriers for what an entrepreneur is or who becomes an entrepreneur. Mark Zuckerberg was like 19 was he started Facebook and, what, it’s now like one of the biggest companies in the world now. It’s just going to get younger and younger and if you’ve met kids 9 and 10, same age as I was, even 6 and 7 making their own games and starting their own businesses and it’s very inspiring!
Ben: When you look at what our generation has got in compared to maybe other generations and starting a business, you know we’ve grown up with technology in our pockets and what that means is we’ve got this advantage that we can now make decisions based our knowledge of technology that other generations can’t do, so use that to your advantage!
Jordan: Older people are starting to realise the potential of young people and to actually take them seriously. They have a huge knowledge of technology, we were born into it, we don’t know any different, I think that allows us to be a little bit more creative.
Oli: Anyone can create content with the beauty of the internet and all the different platforms that are now becoming available. People are just getting younger and younger and content creators are anyone and everyone.
Ben: Another big advantage of starting a company when you’re younger is the fact you haven’t got the sort of experience or negativity on the world, whereas by being a young person you can focus on the business and have less worries often and what that means is by doing that, you can now obviously building something maybe a bit more innovative, bit more different because you’re not worried about everything else.
Caspar: I think now is better than ever. I mean, you’re seeing young people lead movements; you just need to start talking, start acting, start achieving. Start talking, start acting, start achieving!
Jeremiah: We need to be excited! We’ve got the power in our hands; we can tell the adults what to do! Young people have the power to influence change, through in all industries and within all places, so we need to be excited. We have got all the power and we can all change the world.
Saima: I can’t wait to see what happens in 10 years from now. Like, if you want something, go for that thing, don’t feel like anything holds you back, just do what you want to do and command the room.
So, if you’re young and thinking of starting up in business, build your confidence - in your ideas and yourself - and remember the advice here:
- Forget age! A good idea is a good idea.
- The time is now for young people in business. Go for it!
- Get inspired by other young leaders.
- Use new technology to your advantage.
- Become a content creator.
- Be excited about the opportunities to influence new industries.
- Command the room.
As Caspar Lee puts it:
Start talking. Start acting. Start achieving.
If you’re interested in a career in business, Barclays LifeSkills have lots of great resources to support you on your journey.
Explore how you can develop your enterprise skills or take a look at their Business start up planner for inspiration.
Your future awaits!
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