Michelle Ovens CBE, founder of Small Business Britain, has called for entrepreneurship to be promoted alongside university for UK school leavers.
Her recommendation follows the release of A-level results last week, when hundreds of thousands of students discovered their grades. Official figures showed a rise in students securing their first-choice university and a record total number of places offered. Other school leavers entered clearing, started apprenticeships, entered further training, or reconsidered their options.
Ovens questioned why society continues to talk about success as though higher education is the only path available. She stressed that while university remains a brilliant route where graduates benefit from academic achievement, living away from home, and making friends, it is not the only way to achieve financial security.
"For decades, the implicit message to young people has been pretty consistent," Ovens said. "Work hard at school, get good grades, go to university and then get a good job."
Support for technical education
Ovens endorsed Prime Minister Keir Starmer for challenging the idea that graduation caps should be valued above hard hats. She stated that his push to give technical education, practical skills, and work experience greater status recognises that young people need more than one route into employment.
However, she argued that starting a business must also be placed much more firmly on the map. While acknowledging that business ownership is difficult, uncertain, and comes with no guarantees, Ovens pointed out that university is also not a guarantee of a particular salary or career path.
"What entrepreneurship does offer is something we should be taking seriously in a changing economy, which is the opportunity to create your own job, build something from scratch and potentially create jobs for other people too," she said.
She advocated teaching practical skills earlier in formal education, including problem-solving, money management, and decision-making under uncertainty. She added that entrepreneurship teaches resilience, coping when things do not go to plan, learning from setbacks, pivoting, and keeping going.
"In a world where few careers follow a perfectly straight line, these aren't simply business skills," Ovens said. "They are life skills and they could be particularly important for young people who don't have the family networks or financial safety nets that others take for granted."
Social mobility and child poverty
Describing small businesses as the backbone of local communities across the country, Ovens noted that business ownership can offer a route to financial independence for individuals who might otherwise struggle to progress. She cited the government-backed Maple Review, supported by accounting platform Xero, which highlighted how entrepreneurship can play a powerful role in social mobility.
"Talent and ambition are not confined to affluent postcodes but opportunity often is," Ovens said.
Latest government figures reveal that four million children, or 27 per cent of all children, were living in poverty in 2024-25. This equals around eight children in an average classroom of 30, with child poverty exceeding 40 per cent in certain areas.
"Against that backdrop, giving young people more routes into economic security isn't a nice-to-have. It is an absolute essential," Ovens said.
National Business Skills Guarantee
Ovens cautioned that starting a business is not a magic wand and presents specific challenges for people from disadvantaged backgrounds, including fear of debt and issues dealing with formal processes due to lack of experience. She called for right support through mentoring, finance, and access to networks across schools, businesses, and government.
Small Business Britain's core recommendation is a National Business Skills Guarantee to bridge the entrepreneurial divide. Ovens noted that hearing directly from local business owners helps young people discover careers they did not know existed and build networks, observing that "you can't be what you can't see."
Adapting to an AI-driven workforce
Looking ahead, Ovens emphasised that the education system must recognise that the economy young people are entering is changing rapidly as artificial intelligence transforms jobs and traditional career paths become less predictable. She noted that portfolio careers, freelancing, and small businesses are increasingly part of the employment landscape.
"If we want the next generation to be financially resilient, we need to teach them not just how to get a job, but how the world of work actually works and how to forge their own path within it," Ovens said.
