“As the economic environment changes around us, so too does the way in which young entrepreneurs seek to engage with enterprise – in the hands of entrepreneurs, it is hardly surprising that the nature of entrepreneurship itself will evolve and re-invent itself,” Andrew Haigh, executive director, client propositions at Coutts, said.

The report argues that commentary about the availability of start-up finance, for example, overlooks the large numbers of young people who are reticent about taking out a loan, preferring to “bootstrap” their way through the initial stages of their business. Likewise, the effort spent in establishing formal mentorship schemes belie the preference that many young people have for more informal support from personal contacts, it said.

Instead of large-scale funding programmes, what is needed is small-scale support that is built on experimentation at a grassroots level and which goes with the grain of young entrepreneurs’ real experiences, however unconventional they may sound, it said.

“Despite the flurry of media commentary surrounding young enterprise, very little is actually known about how young people become entrepreneurs. We discovered that many do not conform to traditional stereotypes of entrepreneurs,” RSA senior researcher Benedict Dellot said.

“Instead they often stumble into business ‘accidentally’, start up on a shoestring budget and with an imperfect product, and rely on a whole host of other people – mostly personal acquaintances – to get them to where they want to be. If we’re to win the ‘global race’ as outlined by the prime minister , there’s an urgent need for support organisations to quickly get up to speed on this rapidly-changing businesses environment,” Dellot added.