'Alan Sugar test' created to spot entrepreneurs
By Martin Kornacki (19-01-2010)
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A test that claims it can identify the next generation of entrepreneurs has been devised by a London University academic.
The ‘Alan Sugar test', as it has been dubbed, also claims to spot students who are more likely to start their own business or show a flair for enterprise.
The Attitudes to Enterprise test was developed by researcher Rosemary Athayde of Kingston’s Small Business Research Centre to find budding business leaders among school pupils aged 15-18 and to evaluate whether schemes for young entrepreneurs had any impact on pupils’ ambitions.
“The test I’ve developed is really about measuring enterprise potential in young people,” she said. “Being creative and intuitive, showing good leadership skills and having a desire to achieve are all characteristics that show an individual is more likely to set up their own enterprise.”
The test is made up of 30 questions assessing pupils’ intuition, creativity, leadership skills and desire to achieve as well as the amount of control they feel they have over their future.
Among the statements students are asked to rate from strongly agree with to strongly disagree with are “I think I am a very imaginative person” and “making mistakes is a good way of finding out how to solve a problem”.
Athayde has also added six questions on attitudes to risk-taking for a new version of the test aimed at undergraduates, which is currently being used by eight London universities as well as the University of Zagreb in Croatia and Kettering University in Michigan, USA.
Both the school and university tests have a second section that asks the respondents’ ethnic group, gender, parents’ occupation and whether anyone in their family has ever owned a business.
The test was developed through four studies involving 18 secondary schools and almost 1,000 pupils aged 15-18.
Overall the studies revealed that boys, private school pupils and young black people were more positive about self-employment than other groups.
Athayde concluded: “It’s generally self-confidence that gives pupils that extra enterprise potential but the key point is that the test needs to be seen in the context of pupils’ background and culture."
The ‘Alan Sugar test', as it has been dubbed, also claims to spot students who are more likely to start their own business or show a flair for enterprise.
The Attitudes to Enterprise test was developed by researcher Rosemary Athayde of Kingston’s Small Business Research Centre to find budding business leaders among school pupils aged 15-18 and to evaluate whether schemes for young entrepreneurs had any impact on pupils’ ambitions.
“The test I’ve developed is really about measuring enterprise potential in young people,” she said. “Being creative and intuitive, showing good leadership skills and having a desire to achieve are all characteristics that show an individual is more likely to set up their own enterprise.”
The test is made up of 30 questions assessing pupils’ intuition, creativity, leadership skills and desire to achieve as well as the amount of control they feel they have over their future.
Among the statements students are asked to rate from strongly agree with to strongly disagree with are “I think I am a very imaginative person” and “making mistakes is a good way of finding out how to solve a problem”.
Athayde has also added six questions on attitudes to risk-taking for a new version of the test aimed at undergraduates, which is currently being used by eight London universities as well as the University of Zagreb in Croatia and Kettering University in Michigan, USA.
Both the school and university tests have a second section that asks the respondents’ ethnic group, gender, parents’ occupation and whether anyone in their family has ever owned a business.
The test was developed through four studies involving 18 secondary schools and almost 1,000 pupils aged 15-18.
Overall the studies revealed that boys, private school pupils and young black people were more positive about self-employment than other groups.
Athayde concluded: “It’s generally self-confidence that gives pupils that extra enterprise potential but the key point is that the test needs to be seen in the context of pupils’ background and culture."
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