L’UE veut que la télé fasse le portrait des entrepreneurs

The event in Brussels also featured a panel discussion entitled 'Entrepreneurship on TV', which debated the role of media in shaping social attitudes to entrepreneurs. 

Leona Achtenhagen  of Jönköping International Business School in Sweden said a range of television formats – from documentary to fictional drama – can be used to tell stories about entrepreneurship. 

"We need to show a variety of entrepreneurs on screen. Research shows that young people react badly to television formats that are seen as educational or pushing information. So you have to look at other formats for telling that story," she said. 

Katharina Uppenbrink of the German Screenwriters Guild said fiction can be an effective medium for communicating about entrepreneurs, but added that movies and television drama would still have to conform to the usual style of the media.

"There will always be stereotypes – good guys and bad guys. If you want to tell a story about entrepreneurship, you need a mix of drama, love and hate." 

She said American series featuring criminal pathologists had sparked great interest in forensic science, and well-told stories featuring entrepreneurs could potentially do the same thing for business start-ups. 

Roman Mlodkowski of TVN Poland said television can help give the public a valuable glimpse of life as a business owner, which might inspire them to become their own boss. "Entrepreneurs need a passion for risk but may also need experience," Mlodkowski said. 

"TV shows help give some insight into life as an entrepreneur. But programmes on entrepreneurship need to be relevant and give viewers information they would otherwise not be able to access," he said. 

Mlodkowski added that scriptwriters often had a limited view of how business was done. 

Manuel Lozano  of Lua Multimedia in Spain said television does not always portray an accurate image of entrepreneurs. 

"The perception of SMEs is often bad. TV can help show entrepreneurs as hard-working and dynamic individuals. A movie about the founders of Google would be interesting to a large range of people," he said. 

Alain Coumont  of Le Pain Quotidien, Belgium, warned against going into business for the wrong reasons. He said there is a misconception that financial gain is the primary incentive for entrepreneurs, but this was not what motivated him to start his own business. 

"I didn't care about money. I was inspired by the work of another chef and I wanted to make bread. I still view it as a hobby," Coumont said. 

European Commission SME Envoy Françoise Le Bail said perceptions of entrepreneurialism are important, stressing the importance of SME Week in shaping public attitudes. 

"There has been huge enthusiasm for SME Week, with over 1,000 events across Europe. The concept of an SME Week predated the crisis, but when we get out of the crisis, employment growth will be driven by SMEs," she said.