According to a new survey of graduate entrepreneurs in the south west, the most important attribute when starting a business is sheer “hard work”.
More than half (59%) of graduates who have gone on to launch their own enterprise put hard work top of their list, followed by drive and energy (50%) and organisational skills (44%).
The Lloyds TSB Commercial survey also asked what practical steps were considered to be the most important for getting their start up off the ground. The two answers most commonly ranked as ‘extremely important’ were financial planning (50%) and funding or investment to start up (34%).
The study revealed that eight out of ten students and graduates (83%) would like to see more advice available at university on how to set up a business.
The research found that the most popular sector for UK graduates who have gone on to establish their own business is the design and creative industry (24%), with IT services (15%) and publishing, media, marketing and advertising (10%) the next most popular sectors.
