The Alliance and Leicester claims that the majority of entrepreneurs that do well are the first born child and have at least one brother or sister.
Having spoken to business owners across the country the Alliance and Leicester found that 60 percent of them were the eldest child in the family, with 85 percent of them having younger siblings. This suggested that they could have developed their teamwork and leadership skills.
Other personal traits that are the sign of a successful entrepreneur include dependability, consideration and being a good listener. The Alliance and Leicester also found that state education works well for the entrepreneur, with over 70 percent having a regular state education.
The recent decision by the Bank of England to keep the base rate at 5 percent was as per expectations according to the Abbey National.
A spokesman from the Abbey National explained that the need to manage an economy that is slowing down meant it was highly unlikely to see the interest rate increased, since that would slow it further. The rise in inflation, up to 3 percent in April also meant that a rate reduction was not going to happen since that would further fuel the inflation rate.
Looking forwards the Abbey National feel there may be a cut in the interest rate later in the year, though it needs the inflation rate to be kept under control for that to happen.
According to the Lloyds TSB Business Unit the economy in Scotland is growing, albeit at a lower than hoped for rate.
Looking at the last three months almost 40 percent of businesses in Scotland reported that turnover was up, a third remained unchanged whilst 28 percent had seen a reduction. When combined these figures show a net gain of 11 percent – better than the quarter before but much less than the same time last year. A Lloyds TSB economist reported that Scottish businesses were expecting their figures to reduce in the next 6 months though their actual performance was better than the rest of the country.
Both manufacturing and service industries had enjoyed growth over the last quarter, which is a very healthy situation, though some business owners were telling the Lloyds TSB survey that they were beginning to notice the access to credit tightening up which could be a concern in the future.
