The Face of Entrepreneurship in 2017

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The other age group that's going to be pushing into entrepreneurship in a big way is the Gen Y demographic, which is people born after 1982. We call them "mods" because of the way they modify and customize everything, from their cars with the spinners on the wheels to their unique cell phone ringtones to their MySpace accounts, none of which are exactly alike. They're configurable, customizable markets of one as consumers, and as adults they want to be independent from the beginning of their careers and never work for an established corporation. We also believe they're fueling a huge trend toward increasingly sophisticated business technology (see BusinessWeek.com, 10/30/06, "Young, Fearless, and Smart").

Aside from age, how will gender figure into the small-business mix in a decade?

We will see the continuing and strengthening presence of women in entrepreneurship. The study puts them into two groups. There's the classical, professional woman who's networked and experienced but decides to break through the glass ceiling by creating her own empire. Kind of what we called the Oprah phenomenon.

And then there's the reality that we've been a dual-income society for more than 15 years and many women are trying to balance work and their life responsibilities. That's where we get the "mompreneur," the woman who starts a business to get flexibility of access to her family. They will be working in the evenings and the early mornings, and their most valuable resource is going to be time and finding a way to fit their [personal] needs around their business needs. We also find that these entrepreneurs are the most networked of any business owner segment and they succeed by working in teams and supporting each other (see BusinessWeek.com, 1/8/07, "Women Entrepreneurs").

The study also mentions immigrants and their role in small business. Isn't that an ongoing phenomenon?

Absolutely. Successful immigrant entrepreneurs are not at all a new phenomenon, but we find that they are and increasingly will be driving global business and redefining global business. It used to be that immigrants would come to this country and choose to do business inside the U.S. Now, with technology making this possible, immigrant business owners remain in contact with their home country, where they have suppliers, a business network, relationships, and language skills.

Already, 37% of our U.S. small-business customers are doing business globally, and those stats are driven very much by immigrant entrepreneurs (see BusinessWeek.com, 1/3/07, "Open Doors Wider for Skilled Immigrants").

Is the full study available online?

Yes, it can be downloaded here.

Karen E. Klein is a Los Angeles-based writer who covers entrepreneurship and small-business issues.