Can you teach people to be
entrepreneurs? No is the short answer, according to this senior university lecturer WORDS BY KERRY SMITH
Why DMU associates ‘crucible’ with entrepreneurs
A crucible is a container that jewellery makers use to melt gold in. Out of the Crucible Project’s entrepreneurship melting pot, hopefully, comes a confident individual with hand-crafted skills ready to take to market.
A
quick Google of the word ‘entrepreneur’ comes up with Oxford Language’s definition: a person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit’. But George Deeb, writing for Forbes, argues there’s much more to it. He claims they’re risk-takers, visionaries, leaders, pitbulls, and superheroes. So, how does one become an entrepreneur? The question: ‘can we teach people to be entrepreneurs?’ was recently asked to De Montfort University’s Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader Percy Emmett. “Not in the understanding of the word ‘entrepreneurship’,” Percy admits, despite being the leader of DMU’s Crucible Project which is well-known for churning out successful entrepreneurs. “But we can nurture confidence and resilience within the individual to be able 52 | NICHE
We support them through as many parts of their business as they wish to get to market, but our focus is on upskilling and developing the individual
to take the necessary risks to take the business into the market space and we can highlight some of the pitfalls they might come up against. Ultimately, entrepreneurship must come from within themselves.” The Crucible Project has been known over its five years as a business start-up programme – but that’s a slight misconception. Rather than being perceived just as a business development programme, it is more of an educational and personal development programme for individuals. It’s why Percy was delighted to hear that the project had made it through to the finals of the Niche Business Awards 2021 Education category. “When we were shortlisted for the Education category we were so glad, because our philosophy is about building confident, resilient individuals with the right knowledge and skills to apply to their sector or industry,” Percy told
