Whatever your views on the nature/nurture debate in terms of the development of entrepreneurs, few would disagree there’s anything wrong with supporting young people that show entrepreneurial skills.  When the UK Foreign Secretary, William Hague visited Australia last month, he launched the Australian leg of E-idea – an initiative that encourages 18 to 35 year old innovators across the Asia Pacific region to pursue environmental projects.  According to Hague, projects promoting waste reduction, efficiencies in transport, energy reduction, water efficiency and sustainable design will be considered.

Here at Upstream we get excited by anything that encourages individuals to flex their entrepreneurial muscles.

Encouraging more entrepreneurs isn’t just good for business, it’s good for all of us. Successful entrepreneurs are go-getters that inspire others and highlight just what’s possible with some imagination and a lot of hard-work.  Fortunately, we get to meet a lot of these go-getters on a daily basis through our interactions with leaders at small businesses across Australia.  Often, these leaders have established businesses with little more than some capital investment and a big idea, but what they’ve been able to achieve is remarkable.

Given small businesses dominate Australia’s enterprise sector, fostering the development of more entrepreneurs is crucial.  They’re the lifeblood of our economy and more often than not (as Richard Branson would admit) the life and soul of the party too.