Calling Disruptive Entrepreneurs

As part of the RSA and The Royal Bank of Scotland Group’s (RBS) Inspiring Enterprise partnership, we are commencing a new piece of work to identify emerging disruptive trends in the way young people are starting and running their business. We want to hear your suggestions of young entrepreneurs we could talk to who are displaying unconventional and creative approaches to entrepreneurship.

Our aim is to try and get beyond the common perception of entrepreneurialism as a linear, formal process – find an idea to make money, conduct market research, write a business proposal, find an investor or bank loan and then launch a registered company – and shine a light on the new and more disruptive ways that people are being entrepreneurial.

For example, this might include collaborating and forming intimate relationships with ‘customers’ via social media, using new crowdsourcing websites to secure finance, trading informally before registering their business, and being driven more by the social side of entrepreneurialism than by profit. Once we have completed our research, we will seek to use the findings to suggest new ways in which young enterprise could be better supported in the UK.

We are now looking for young entrepreneurs that we could interview as part of the project. If you know of anyone who might fit the bill as a ‘disruptive’ entrepreneur, please get in touch with Benedict Dellot within the RSA’s Action and Research Centre.