Joe Sayer is the founder of Waymaker, a communications agency, and has worked across business, political communications and public affairs.
Britain doesn’t have a productivity crisis. It has an ambition crisis.
That might sound strange when every political debate eventually comes back to growth. But after spending the last few years building a business and working with companies across the country, I’m convinced the two are inseparable.
Growth doesn’t begin in Whitehall. It begins when somebody decides to take a risk.
I was fortunate growing up. My dad was self-employed, so starting a business never felt like an unrealistic ambition. It wasn’t something extraordinary; it was simply another career path. From a young age, he encouraged me to think about building something of my own one day, and that mindset has stayed with me ever since.
I’m not convinced we give enough young people that same confidence today.
For many, the path feels almost predetermined: school, university, tens of thousands of pounds of student debt, graduate scheme and then the career ladder. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that route. Britain needs brilliant people in every profession. But it has become the default, and somewhere along the way we’ve stopped talking about entrepreneurship as something ordinary people can do.
When we do talk about entrepreneurship, we often make it sound far more complicated than it really is. At school, it’s often presented as a neat, linear process: come up with an idea, write a business plan, forecast the cash flow, borrow money from friends and family or convince the bank to lend to you.
The reality is very different. Most businesses don’t start like that. They start with a side hustle, a freelance client, an online shop, a social media page or somebody deciding to give an idea a go after work. The plan often comes later, if at all. If we teach entrepreneurship as something that only begins once everything is perfectly mapped out, it’s no wonder so many people never take the first step.
That matters because every political party says it wants economic growth. Governments have an important role to play. They should create the conditions that allow businesses to succeed through stable taxation, sensible regulation, investment in infrastructure and a planning system that rewards growth instead of holding it back. But governments can only create the conditions for wealth. Businesses are the ones that create it.
Every time somebody opens another shop, employs another member of staff, buys another machine or takes on an apprentice, Britain becomes a little more productive and a little more prosperous. Those decisions don’t happen because government creates growth. They happen because people have the confidence to back themselves.
As Conservatives, we should be making that case every single day. Conservatism has always been about believing in people. Believing that ordinary individuals, given freedom, responsibility and opportunity, can achieve extraordinary things. Enterprise, ownership and aspiration shouldn’t just be part of our history; they should define our future too.
Too often our political debate starts with the question of how wealth should be distributed. That’s an important conversation, but it shouldn’t be the first one. Conservatives should instinctively ask how we create more wealth in the first place, because a country can’t redistribute prosperity it never generates.
That starts with creating a more ambitious country. One where starting a business is seen as just as respectable an ambition as getting a graduate job, where success isn’t viewed with suspicion and where more young people grow up believing they could be the person creating jobs rather than simply applying for one.
Policy matters. Britain should be the easiest place in Europe to start and grow a business. We should reward investment, remove unnecessary barriers and make it easier for people to employ others. But policy alone won’t solve an ambition crisis.
Culture matters too. If we constantly present entrepreneurship as risky, complicated or something reserved for a lucky few, we shouldn’t be surprised when fewer people decide to give it a go.
Every government wants economic growth. The Conservative Party should want something even bigger: a Britain where more people have the confidence to create that growth for themselves.
Joe Sayer is the founder of Waymaker, a communications agency, and has worked across business, political communications and public affairs.
Britain doesn’t have a productivity crisis. It has an ambition crisis.
That might sound strange when every political debate eventually comes back to growth. But after spending the last few years building a business and working with companies across the country, I’m convinced the two are inseparable.
Growth doesn’t begin in Whitehall. It begins when somebody decides to take a risk.
I was fortunate growing up. My dad was self-employed, so starting a business never felt like an unrealistic ambition. It wasn’t something extraordinary; it was simply another career path. From a young age, he encouraged me to think about building something of my own one day, and that mindset has stayed with me ever since.
I’m not convinced we give enough young people that same confidence today.
For many, the path feels almost predetermined: school, university, tens of thousands of pounds of student debt, graduate scheme and then the career ladder. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that route. Britain needs brilliant people in every profession. But it has become the default, and somewhere along the way we’ve stopped talking about entrepreneurship as something ordinary people can do.
When we do talk about entrepreneurship, we often make it sound far more complicated than it really is. At school, it’s often presented as a neat, linear process: come up with an idea, write a business plan, forecast the cash flow, borrow money from friends and family or convince the bank to lend to you.
The reality is very different. Most businesses don’t start like that. They start with a side hustle, a freelance client, an online shop, a social media page or somebody deciding to give an idea a go after work. The plan often comes later, if at all. If we teach entrepreneurship as something that only begins once everything is perfectly mapped out, it’s no wonder so many people never take the first step.
That matters because every political party says it wants economic growth. Governments have an important role to play. They should create the conditions that allow businesses to succeed through stable taxation, sensible regulation, investment in infrastructure and a planning system that rewards growth instead of holding it back. But governments can only create the conditions for wealth. Businesses are the ones that create it.
Every time somebody opens another shop, employs another member of staff, buys another machine or takes on an apprentice, Britain becomes a little more productive and a little more prosperous. Those decisions don’t happen because government creates growth. They happen because people have the confidence to back themselves.
As Conservatives, we should be making that case every single day. Conservatism has always been about believing in people. Believing that ordinary individuals, given freedom, responsibility and opportunity, can achieve extraordinary things. Enterprise, ownership and aspiration shouldn’t just be part of our history; they should define our future too.
Too often our political debate starts with the question of how wealth should be distributed. That’s an important conversation, but it shouldn’t be the first one. Conservatives should instinctively ask how we create more wealth in the first place, because a country can’t redistribute prosperity it never generates.
That starts with creating a more ambitious country. One where starting a business is seen as just as respectable an ambition as getting a graduate job, where success isn’t viewed with suspicion and where more young people grow up believing they could be the person creating jobs rather than simply applying for one.
Policy matters. Britain should be the easiest place in Europe to start and grow a business. We should reward investment, remove unnecessary barriers and make it easier for people to employ others. But policy alone won’t solve an ambition crisis.
Culture matters too. If we constantly present entrepreneurship as risky, complicated or something reserved for a lucky few, we shouldn’t be surprised when fewer people decide to give it a go.
Every government wants economic growth. The Conservative Party should want something even bigger: a Britain where more people have the confidence to create that growth for themselves.