Generation Entrepreneur

For generations of graduates, entrepreneurship tended to come later. First came the regular job, and then, when you were experienced enough for people to take you seriously, you could go it alone. Back then, it felt as if you needed society’s permission to start your own business.

Gen Z seem to be doing things differently. They’re not waiting for permission.

Today’s ambitions

According to ESCP’s recent Live, Learn & Love in Europe survey, over half (52%) of the students and recent graduates can see themselves starting a business in Europe. Among Bachelor students, that figure rises to 87%. And the trend goes beyond ESCP’s findings. Research from the OECD found that around four in ten (39%) young people in the EU would prefer to be self-employed rather than an employee.

In fact, according to the OECD research, around 5% of young Europeans were actively working on a startup, while Eurostat counted 2.06 million self-employed 20-to-29-year-olds across the EU in 2025. In the UK, the British Business Bank reports that start-up loans taken out by Gen Z founders have risen by 132% in the last five years, making it the only generation to increase its share of the programme’s lending.

For a generation literally brought up on Dragon’s Den/Shark Tank, entrepreneurship seems to be an appealing – and viable – option.

Geopolitical influence

But while it’s debatable that the business reality TV show had much of an impact on the region’s younger business owners, the economic and geopolitical instability of recent years is a more tangible influence. “Covid was absolutely a factor in how [Gen Z] see our future careers, because it made traditional career paths unstable,” says startup co-founder Shadé Okewole-Rétat. “Why go into a traditional career path that’s unstable instead of doing your own unstable thing?”

Okewole-Rétat is currently building Wonder, a marketplace platform connecting students looking for internships with startups looking for talent, along with her business partner and fellow ESCP graduate, Juliette Brasselet. They got their start as part of ESCP’s start-up incubator, Blue Factory.

For Okewole-Rétat, entrepreneurship has long felt less like an alternative and more like an obvious career path. Growing up between Paris and London, she experimented with businesses selling candles and face masks during Lockdown, before beginning work on a concept that would eventually become Wonder. “I’ve always had this fear of working for somebody else’s dream,” she says. “Working for my own dream, I at least get to try. A traditional path is more my second option in case entrepreneurship doesn’t work.”

Meanwhile, ask Brasselet what entrepreneurship means to her, and the answer comes quickly: “Independence.”

Motivations and interests

According to the OECD, nearly half of young Europeans attracted to self-employment point to the ability to choose when and where they work, with a similar proportion attracted by the independence of being their own boss. Almost half also identify following their passions and interests as a motivation for entrepreneurship.

When it comes to employment in general, ESCP’s Live, Learn & Love in Europe survey paints a similar picture of the expectations and motivations at play. Work-life balance was the number-one attraction of working in Europe, given by 46% of respondents, ahead of career opportunities at 43%. At the same time, 73% described European workplace culture as hierarchical, whereas just 62% felt it valued initiative.

So perhaps, if younger people value independence and initiative, but they’re finding that the workplaces they’re entering don’t feel the same way, it’s not surprising that entrepreneurship is an increasingly attractive option.

“We have the autonomy to define how we work and make decisions for ourselves,” says Brasselet. “There is no predetermined playbook. We have to be intentional about building our structure, standards, and ways of working.”

That freedom comes with its own pressures, of course. “Having an idea is only the starting point. The real challenge is turning that idea into something concrete and following through,” she says. “You’re going to need to find investment, which means that you’ll need to be so persistent. You have to be prepared for unanswered messages, rejection, and people who may not immediately believe in what you’re building.”

The European angle

But while running a business is undoubtedly difficult, there are advantages to be found in running one in Europe, particularly.  “Europe has incredible hubs,” Brasselet says, pointing to finance in London, technology in Berlin and entrepreneurial ecosystems across cities including Paris, Munich, Barcelona, Madrid and Turin.

“ESCP has given us the opportunity to experience these ecosystems firsthand, to understand how they operate, and meet founders who have built companies of their own. Seeing that up-close makes entrepreneurship feel achievable.”

“Plus, Europe is great because we have access,” adds Okewole-Rétat. “We can get to go to Spain, Italy and Germany in the same day.” For businesses looking to gain traction across different European markets, the ability to zip across the continent with ease is vital.

Europe also has weaknesses. The continent nurtures startups, talent and research, but when it comes to unlocking investment, it seems that the continent’s policymakers have work to do. “You get to a point where you’ve learned and grown as best you could. And then, money to scale becomes necessary,” says Brasselet. “Access to capital can be harder to come by in Europe.”

Future of business

Nevertheless, the entrepreneurial mindset of Gen Z remains a growing force to be reckoned with in the European workplace. It also tells established employers what to expect from the people entering their organisations. After all, not every Gen Z grad will want to become a founder.

Independence, flexibility, ownership and the opportunity to see the impact of their work are priorities for this generation. But it’s not a one-way street, Gen Z bring with them an instinct to move quickly, to experiment and to adapt as circumstances change. Whether some of Europe’s more hierarchical and traditional businesses will value these qualities remains to be seen.

But employers that can create more space for autonomy, initiative and experimentation may be better placed to attract – and keep – a generation increasingly accustomed to defining success on its own terms.

Gen Z is already thriving in the entrepreneurial life today, and it’s quite possible they’ll set the agenda across the continent’s entire world of work tomorrow.