Sir Richard Branson

Sir Richard Branson, the uber entrepreneur of Virgin fame, contributed a provocative editorial to Sunday’s edition of The Independent.

Essentially Branson is making some strong suggestions about how to put the 1 million unemployed young people in the UK to work.

Radical ideas Sir Richard.

They make so much sense it’s almost guaranteed they won’t happen. Why I think so:

• They upset the status quo.
• They require quick action from government.
• They require big business to step up and help young people for the good of society.

So, call me a cynic, but great big radical ideas like his are usually tough sledding to get done. However, the good news is things are so desperate right now common sense might actually be given a chance, here’s hoping.

Branson wants to create a generation of entrepreneurs by creating a business and government support structure. These supports would include things like practical advice on how to start and manage a business, micro-loans, and fast-path university schooling. He also wants to retool the existing student loan program as a youth investment company.

Wow.

Imagine if you will a talented young person who gets through 4 years of school in two and then uses half of the total loan to start a new business? Imagine the impact if only a small percentage took advantage of this and created successful ventures. The UK would see an explosion in growth and in a relatively short time frame. It would also provide something called Hope. And hope is not around in abundance these days.

Branson has already done his part by starting Virgin Media Pioneers which dispenses free advice to young entrepreneurs.He’s creating a community of entrepreneurs which is already advocating start-up culture with the government and big business.

Here’s some Gregg Fraley ideas to build on Branson’s:

• Wouldn’t it be interesting if say, a big real estate mogul like Lord Alan Sugar, made available some cheap office space? I know you’ve got an empty building somewhere Lord Sugar.
• What if a communications mogul like Peter Jones helped out with low cost web access and mobile phones?
• And, Sir Richard Branson, how about some low cost air fares to places where people buy things like the USA, China, Japan, and Australia? Let’s say a small company in London has a potential buyer in Chicago…
• Mr. Cameron, how about easing up on all the legalities that make it nigh impossible to crank a venture up? How about actually providing, gulp, help with all those legalities? How about actually taking Branson’s ideas seriously?

Why wouldn’t a pro-business government adopt these ideas for a more innovative future? Why wouldn’t big business get behind an effort that grows the economy?

Why couldn’t the USA do something similar?

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