Helen Loveless, Financial Mail
17 November 2008
Ross Marshall and Andrew Harding were just 24 when they set up yourgolftravel.com in July 2005.
Unable to get funding from banks, the Durham University friends borrowed £30,000 on eight credit cards to launch their online golfing holiday company.
Though the first year saw some rocky moments, the London-based business now employs 42 people with a projected turnover of nearly £9m for this year.
Ross says: 'Running a business is a rollercoaster ride, but it is worth the risk, especially when you are young and believe wholeheartedly in what you are doing.'
Ross and Andrew, marathon runners and keen golfers, are among a growing number of young entrepreneurs.
Figures from the World Bank show that the proportion of businesses set up by 16 to 24-year olds rose from 6.5% in 2003 to 8% in 2007. Running a business was also the top career choice for nearly two thirds of young people.
And inspiring young people to set up in business is the focus of Global Entrepreneurship Week, which starts tomorrow.
A spokeswoman for Make Your Mark, the year-round enterprise campaign which with America's Kauffman Foundation founded Global Enterprise Week, says encouraging more young people to set up their own business is essential.
'Young people have vitality and drive and this needs to be channelled into creating new businesses that will help the economy to thrive,' she says.
The Prince's Trust was established to help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds set up in business.
It helps 2,500 start-ups a year by giving loans of up to £4,000 for sole traders and £5,000 for partnerships. All businesses are also given a mentor for two years and nearly 60% have survived at least three years.
Lorna Knapman, 32, a single mother with a three-year-old son, set up Bitesize, a Bristol-based business providing mobile catering services for children, in April 2007 with the help of a loan from the trust. She left school with poor results and after a series of unfulfilling jobs had little confidence and was in debt.
Since then Lorna has seen her company take off. In May she launched the Love Food festival, a monthly event in Bristol that aims to teach children about healthy food. Almost 1,500 attended the last festival and the next one is on November 30.
Lorna says: 'I always wanted to run my own business, but without the help from my mentor at the Prince's Trust I'd have struggled.
The current environment is daunting so that support is essential.' Help and advice in setting up a business is available from Government-funded Business Link as well as regional development agencies.
