Charlie Mullins: “We need to flush out myths about formal education”

Under these trying conditions, we need youngsters and new entrepreneurs on the frontline to steer us to growth and encourage the rest of us in business to become even better.

I wouldn’t mind betting that the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs will be made up of some of the kids I meet as part of The Prince’s Trust business programme.

The Prince’s Trust understands that some young people have an inner strength that isn’t necessarily released through formal further education but in the practical experience of everyday life, combined with effective mentoring in workplaces such as Pimlico Plumbers.

A new report has revealed that there are 68 graduate applications for every job – this is not a recession issue, but a failure of an education system that has sold students the dream that a degree is the best way into a career.

We need to get really radical if we’re going to have any chance of sorting out this massive flow of graduates with no future. And, like any blocked up system, you need to flush things out at the earliest possible time.

The only realistic way to deal with this system failure is to send employment hit squads into school and universities to tell students the truth about their options.

The sooner we have a training programme based on common sense, and by that I mean giving people the skills that we need as a society, the better.

Those who choose to go their own way, the next generation of entrepreneurs, need to get stuck in. Don’t wait for a grant from the government. Let nothing hold you up in your mission to sell your product or service. If it doesn’t work straight away, keep trying. Knock on the doors of customers and don’t fear rejection.

Young entrepreneurs: you are in the front line of the battle to get our economy growing. Your enemies, the lazy armchair generals, are the people that hamper you with petty regulation.

Let your inner voice tell you that you are entitled to sell – the country needs you to succeed and what you’re offering to our economy is just as important, if not more so, than the millions of people who haven’t started a small business!

Image source

Share this story