Teaching the entrepreneur inside

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.

Aquick 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

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

me. “We were surprised because most people think of the project as a business programme rather than a learning process, and this is really helpful because we want to be known as supporters and educators in this field.”

One of The Crucible Project’s protégés HEAL.med, responsible for the Diabetes Education App, was also named a finalist in the Niche Business Awards 2021 in the Digital Business of the Year category.

A rebranding of the Crucible Project will take place over the coming months to solidify the philosophy and message of the course. It focuses on how knowledge and skills are imparted in order for personal growth.

Percy explained: “It doesn’t matter what they apply that training to, they will always have it with them. People will often come on to the programme with a business idea and find that it doesn’t work. But they will utilise the learning and resilience and confidence-building to apply to any business idea or transfer the learning to a job role.”

Each month, the budding entrepreneurs undertake training in PR, marketing, intellectual property, and a whole gambit of other topics.

Percy acknowledged: “We all know that they’re not going to be a specialist in every one of those subjects, but they do need to know how they’re applied and how they’ll affect the business they’re hoping to create. How these aspects are embedded into the structure of a business is a key understanding.

“They don’t need to be experts in all these fields, someone else can manage those sides of things for them, while we facilitate the access to that knowledge and confidence for them to be able to let go and delegate, and let others have their influence.

“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.”

While people may not be able to be taught how to be entrepreneurs, if they have vision, the qualities of a leader, or a ‘pitbull’ nature about them, it would seem they can certainly be taught how to develop the skills to eventually become one.

Find out more about the Crucible Project members, or how to apply at dmu.ac.uk/crucible.