Academic calls for creation of Office of Chief Entrepreneur role in government

The voices of the entrepreneurial community have “been marginalised” in the tops levels of the Scottish and UK governments and a special Office of Chief Entrepreneur role should be created to ensure the voices of entrepreneurs are heard, a University of Glasgow academic has said.

In a comment piece for Holyrood, Colin Mason, professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Glasgow’s Adam Smith Business School, said initiatives to support business during the coronavirus crisis had “been poorly designed and executed, arising from the lack of understanding within government of how business operates”.

“In particular a ‘one size fits all’ approach dominated with the result that many businesses were not eligible for support,” he said.

Mason called for the creation of an Office of the Chief Entrepreneur (OCE), following the example of Australian states Queensland and South Australia, headed by a successful entrepreneur and supported by an independent advisory board and its own staff.

The OCE would advocate within government for the importance of entrepreneurship, providing strategic advice to shape policy and push for the removal of impediments to business start-up and growth, working across policy process.

“Critically, the objective is to create a business environment in which all competitive businesses can succeed: the OCE is agnostic in terms of sector, type of business and location,” Mason said.

“Well-designed, supportive policies based on a deep understanding of business are required to enable entrepreneurs to drive economic recovery. This requires that the voice of the entrepreneurial community is heard at the top level of government and that this is turned into action. Creating an Office of the Chief Entrepreneur will ensure that this happens.”