7
New busi ness
UNIT
N EW E NTRE P R E N E U RS
Before you read
An entrepreneur is someone who starts a new business, or a series
of new businesses. Are you I Could you be an entrepreneur?
Why? I Why not?
Reading
Read this article from the Financial Times by luke Johnson and answer
the questions.
FT
Rules of the game have been rewritten
By Luke Johnson
-1
m
�
OJ Entrepreneurs of the 2 1 st century
)> are different. The world of
z
" business has changed a lot since
I entered it in the 1 980s, and
5 the rules of the game have been
totally rewritten. An important
factor has been the influence of
the Internet. Many start-ups are
now online companies or use the
10 Internet in some way. A 26-year­
old such as Mark Zuckerberg can
create a community of 500 million
users with Facebook - employing
just I ,000 staff. Facebook is
1s also a n example of how i nvestors
are willing - sometimes - to
back projects that have almost no
sales revenues, believing that a
profitable business model will
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...
- -�t·
·
20 come later, as it did with Google.
Every young company
now uses social networking as
one of its marketing tools. An
understanding of how to usc
2s Facebook. Twitler. Foursquare
and the rest is important for the
success of almost any brand
targeted at the young. Each new
wave of technology is accepted
JO very quickly. Things used to
evolve much more gradually in
the past.
Start-ups are far more likely
to be founded by graduates than
35 they used to be. In the past six
years in the UK, there has been a
46 per cent jump in the number of
graduates describing themselves
© Pearson Education limited 2012 PHOTOCOPIABLE
e e e
LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY
as self-employed. I am sure that
•o will continue, partly because
comfortable jobs are much harder
to get. Of course, many more
people attend university now; yet
when I left Oxford, it was seen
•5 by many as "wasting" a degree to
want to create a business.
Women entrepreneurs are
much more common than in the
past, with almost one in three U K
50 start-ups i n 2009 founded by a
woman. Now women are much
more confident and ambitious in
their careers, an d there are plenty
of role models of successful
ss women in the workplace.
 TEXT BANK .. .. UNIT 7

1 Put the paragraph headings i n the correct g) Of course, many more people attend (line 43)
order. university now; ...
i) wait for
a) Women entrepreneurs ii) go to
b) The importance of social networking iii) drop out of
c) Graduate entrepreneurs h) .. . yet when I left Oxford, it was seen by many as

d) Entrepreneurs and the Internet "wasting" a degree to want to create (line 46) a
business.
i) start
2 Answer these questions about paragraph 1.
ii) manufacture
a) When did the writer arrive in the world of business? iii) invent
b) What expression does the writer use to describe i) Women entrepreneurs are much more common
what has happened since then? (line 48) than in the past, with almost one in three
c) What does the expression in question b) above UK start-ups in 2009 founded by a woman.
mean? i) ordinary ii) often iii) usual
d) Why has this happened?
4 Complete the table with words from
e) Are all start-ups now Internet companies?
paragraphs 2 and 3, in the form they are
f) How many people work at Facebook?
used in the article.
g) Why are investors willing to put money into
companies with no sales revenues? verb noun

understand
3 Choose the alternative with the closest
meaning to the expression in italic. succeed
a) An understanding of how to use Facebook, target
Twitter, Foursquare and the rest is important to -I
the success of almost any brand targeted at jump IT1
><
(line 28) the young. waste -I
i) made for OJ
creation )>
ii) made by :z
iii) presented to "

b) Each new wave of technology is accepted very 5 Now match the nouns in Exercise 4 to their
quickly. Things used to evolve (line 31) much meanings.
more gradually.
a) the act of starting something
i) stay
ii) event b) the customers that something is made for
iii) change c) when you achieve what you wanted or hoped for
c) Start-ups are far more likely to be founded by d) when you do not use something in an effective way
graduates (line 34) than they used to be. e) when you know what something means, know
i) people with degrees how it works, etc.
ii) people with a gradual approach to business
f) when something is more than before
iii) people with doctorates
d) In the past six years in the Ul<, there has been a
6 I m agine a different headline for the article.
46 per cent jump .. . (line 37)
Choose the best alternative from the
i) fall
following.
ii) decrease
iii) increase a) When I was a young man, business start-ups were
e) . . . in the number of graduates describing easier
themselves as self-employed. (line 39) b) Thirty years of change in the world of entrepreneurs
i) working for a company c) Graduate start-ups are the way to go
ii) working for themselves
iii) working hard
Over to you 1
f) I am sure that will continue, partly because
comfortable jobs are much harder (line 41) to get. Is it possible nowadays to start a business that does not
i) more difficult depend on the Internet in some way? Explain your ideas.
ii) easier
iii) better paid Over to you 2
Do you think that university graduates are 'wasting'
their degree if they start a business? Give your reasons.

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