Success as an entrepreneur has more to do with personality than formal education, new research claims.
In the latest study to add to the debate about whether it's nature rather than nurture which influences business achievement, 80% of the 500 business owners surveyed believed their success could be put down to personal traits. In contrast, just 14% saw education as the influencing factor and only 31% possessed a specific business qualification.
Although two thirds recognised the importance of life experience and previous employment in nurturing entrepreneurial qualities, researchers said the results indicate such traits are inherent rather than learnt. Some 60% of company founders had launched their first business by the age of 30 and on average had spent less than 10 years in the workplace before becoming an entrepreneur.
The study, commissioned to mark the launch of the O2 X Awards, identified five personality traits which form the 'entrepreneur DNA'.
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