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It’s the business equivalent of the ‘nature or nurture’ argument – can you really teach someone how to be an entrepreneur?

Â鶹´«Ã½ Leicester (Â鶹´«Ã½)’s Director of MBA Programmes and subject lead for Enterprise Percy Emmett will be posing that very question on a world stage as part of Expo 2020, one of the largest shows on the planet.



Countries from all over the world are taking part in the six-month showcase, featuring innovations in technology, culture, healthcare and sustainability, along with a series of discussions and debates to imagine what the future will hold.

Mr Emmett – who has been working with entrepreneurs, mentors and creative businesses for nearly 30 years – believes the future of entrepreneurship education lies in creating the right culture.

He said: “At Â鶹´«Ã½, our philosophy is firstly to invest in the individual, while building up the foundations of their business model.

“So when we talk about entrepreneurship, it’s about developing those behaviours and those skills which we know from experience that people need in business.

“We can nurture confidence and resilience within the individual to take the necessary steps and risks so they can place their business into the market space, we can highlight some of the pitfalls that they might come up against whilst going through the process.”

That approach has guided Â鶹´«Ã½’s flagship programme The Crucible, which takes applications from third year students and graduates and provides a programme of support over 12 or 24 months.

Over the past five years, The Crucible as supported more than 60 businesses with a success rate of 85% still in business after five years. This was achieved through teams of specialist dedicated mentors from all aspects of the business world, regular workshops and training as well as office space and state of the art prototyping equipment.

This year 11 people will start the programme, which is run from Â鶹´«Ã½’s Innovation Centre.

Â鶹´«Ã½ is a founding partner of the Dubai Expo, which is run by the UK Department of Trade and Industry and showcases the best of British innovation.

Mr Emmett’s event will take place during a week dedicated to the future of education, called How Will We Learn, from December 6 to 12 at the UK Pavilion in Dubai.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Katie Normington will also be heading over to the UAE to be part of a panel discussion on the future of higher education.

Mr Emmett is the latest Â鶹´«Ã½ academic to be part of the Dubai Expo. November saw Professor Sophy Smith of Â鶹´«Ã½’s Institute of Creative Technologies, talk about how technology is making a difference to storytelling, while Professor Lucy Budd, Professor of Air Transport Management, will join a panel discussion on managing air traffic in the future.