Millennial entrepreneurs more likely to come from family businesses than Baby Boomers
Millennials with an entrepreneurial spark have founded twice as many businesses as their counterparts in the Baby Boomer generation, according to a new report from BNP Paribas and Scorpio Partnership, with the overwhelming majority coming from family businesses themselves.
The 2016 BNP Paribas Global Entrepreneur Report, which explores the emergence of a new generation of entrepreneurs under 35 years old, dubbed the 'Millennipreneurs', found that the sample of entrepreneurs surveyed within this generation on average founded 7.7 companies, compared to 3.5 for the elder generation.
The report analysed the behaviour of 2,600 high net worth and ultra-high net worth entrepreneurs and found that the turnover of businesses run by Millennials outperformed those of Baby Boomers by 43%.
Among the successful business-owning Millennials studied in the research, some 78% come from families with a history of running their own businesses. Among Baby Boomers only 46% were likely to have come from a business-owning family.
“Millennipreneurs create more companies, with larger headcounts and higher target profits,” according to Vincent Lecomte, co-CEO at BNP Paribas Wealth Management. “They also tend to be interested in the new economy, but are equally active in many traditional sectors such as retail, law and accounting.”
The report found that retail (12.5%), professional services (8.5%) and technology (7.3%) were the top three wealth creation sectors among Millennials, while financial services, social media and e-commerce were identified as industries of the future.
Even though Millennials operate largely inline with Baby Boomers, the report found that their operations typically have more resources, with an average headcount of 122.2 staff members compared to 29.9 for Baby Boomers.
Other results from the study found that female entrepreneurs from the Millennial generation have been marginally more successful than their male counterparts over the next year, with 75% expecting profits to increase this year.
“The report reveals that women entrepreneurs are more ambitious and have been more successful than their male counterparts. They also take a different approach to entrepreneurship in terms of leadership, financing and objectives.” according to BNP Paribas Wealth Management co-CEO Sofia Merlo.
She added: “The survey sheds light on their expectations, and reinforces our determination to provide more closely-targeted support in developing their businesses.”
The percentage of women entrepreneurs coming from family businesses was lower than the average, at 64%, however, they ranked transfer to the next generation as their second top definition of success, following a profit on investment (making a social impact was the third ranked definition of success).
The 2016 BNP Paribas Global Entrepreneur Report analysed the behaviour of 2,600 participants across 18 countries and aggregate wealth of $17 billion. They reported a 12% increase in investment volumes over the last 12 months.
