100 Stories of Growth - Insights from Entrepreneurs

15 14 INSIGHTS FROM ENTREPRENEURS INTRODUCTION asked these business leaders to share their ideas and beliefs about a specific blend of capital. That mix includes emotional, human, intellectual and financial capital. What has become crystal clear about these investigations is that people – not corporate machines – run companies. Real people with highly developed intellects and business acumen. Motivated, enthusiastic and talented business leaders that are creating new products and services that benefit all of us in some way or another. We’ve confirmed in our research that growth and scale-up company founders are resilient individuals. The more successful ones are working hard collectively to push the UK up the international scale- up country rankings, where the country currently languishes around 13th place. To be fully prepared to grow a business, an entrepreneur needs to develop resilience. This elusive quality can only be built up systematically over time, with space to experiment, freedom to make mistakes and opportunities to try again. Business leaders need the resources and people to support them, to help create an entrepreneur’s toolkit designed to deliver sustainable successes. At times though – like for anybody – pressures intensify and they have to be vented in some way. Without support and assistance, company founders can feel lost and unsupported, and pressure can take its toll at work and at home. When the 100 Stories of Growth – Capital at Work campaign kicked off, it became clear that human capital – the people behind companies and individuals linked to a myriad of daily business decisions – is just as important if not more so than financial capital. That said, as the campaign has matured and built up greater trust within the SME founder community, we believe that wellbeing, emotional resilience and good mental health are the essential elements of any scale-up company founder’s success. Collectively, the elements can be viewed as emotional capital. While these topics have typically been examined on the periphery of mainstream debate in the SME community, we believe that they should form the starting point of an examination into how to effectively deploy capital at work. To be fully prepared to grow a business, an entrepreneur needs to develop resilience. This elusive quality can only be built up systematically over time. How the golden thread of wellbeing and mental health connects every part of an entrepreneur’s growth journey: Emotional capital shapes entrepreneurs’ experiences Emotional Capital: prioritising entrepreneurs’ wellbeing and mental health at all stages of the journey. Human Capital: interactions, relationships, support and guidance offer the best value to entrepreneurs. Financial Capital: trust, alignment of interests and understanding from investments and capital. Emotional Capital Support & Guidance Relationships Interactions