This was the topic of discussion at this year’s National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs (NACUE).
Chaired by David Williamson, Director of External Services at Kent Business School, at this year’s National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs (NACUE) annual conference, hosted at the University of Aston. The panel included Carolyn Keenan, Project Manager of BeSeen Aston Centre for Growth, Margaret Gibson OBE, Scotland Hub Leader and Head of Social Enterprise Services and Michelle Paris, Visiting Lecturer at the University of Malta within the Faculty of Economics, Management and Marketing.
The panel encouraged students to consider what they are seeking to achieve in their careers. Starting a business and being an entrepreneur is inherently riskier than a nine to five job of course, but the rewards are potentially higher, plus you are your own boss!
An intrapreneur working within an organisation still requires entrepreneurial skills but the risks are far less and offers the opportunity to gain experience of a profession and sector with a guaranteed income at the end of each month. Either way, entrepreneurs and intrapreneur’s are essentially value-makers, this is what drives them. The rewards from creating value, is a key motivator.
The panel gave a cautionary note – the scope for intrapreneurs is often limited to large multinational organisations and the culture has to be right to support intrapreneurs to take measured risks.
The overall consensus of the panel was that both entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs required similar skillsets and to be successful, both required great team working skills (neither is a solo venture), an acceptance that there will be failure along the way and an ongoing determination to take an idea and develop it into a ‘value’ product or service.
Students from the Business Start-Up Journey programme run at The University of Kent were also present at the conference which ran for over Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 February.
‘The highlight of the conference was the chance to gain an insight on entrepreneurship from real entrepreneurs. It was inspiring hearing the experiences of entrepreneurs who have been through it all as they shared their stories. I did not just learn about entrepreneurship but I also learned about lessons in life that I will always remember. What a great conference. Feel so inspired! Can’t wait to get home and get started.’ – Zain Arshad, student studying BSc Computer Science at The University of Kent.
The NACUE 2019 conference will be hosted by Kent Business School on the 23 and 24 February.