Who wants to be a billionaire? New study reveals the secrets of the 1,000 people who turned an idea into a fortune

Report looks at why some countries better at breeding SuperEntrepreneurs

Hong Kong has most billionaires per person, with UK ranked 11th

Being well-educated helps, and working with English-speaking lawyers

But taking risks and having more than one good idea is key



The secrets to becoming a billionaire have been laid bare by a new report, and the bad news is it is not easy.

Living in Hong Kong helps, and so does being well-educated and working in a country where the lawyers speak English.

But a study into the 1,000 people who have earned more than $1billion warns budding entrepreneurs making your fortune is ‘hard, risky and tough’ and almost certain to fail.

The guide to becoming a SuperEntrepreneur gives seven tips on turning an idea into a billion dollars.

It draws on the experiences of Larry Page and Sergey Brin who founded Google, Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson and retail tycoon Sir Philip Green.

Analysis by the Centre for Policy Studies found the UK does not even rank among the top 10 countries for producing billionaire entrepreneurs.

The studiy looked at nearly 1,000 self-made men and women who, according to business magazine Forbes, have earned at least $1billion.

There were a total of 22 British billionaire entrepreneurs between 1996 and 2010.

Self-employment is higher in areas with more SuperEntrepreneurs

Higher tax rates lead to fewer SuperEntrepreneurs

It is easier to do business where there are more SuperEntrepreneurs SuperEntrepreneurs are more likely to have top degrees

SEVEN TIPS TO MAKING $1 BILLION

1. Entrepreneurship is hard, risky and tough. There is a good chance that you will fail in your attempts to create the next Google 2. Entrepreneurship is often knowledge intensive. It is no coincidence that Larry Page and Sergey Brin, whose academic research explored the mathematical properties of the internet, were the ones that founded Google 3. Entrepreneurship is a numbers game. If you only start one company, and pursue a single business idea, you are much more likely to fail than your neighbour, who tries a number of different ideas over a long period of their life. 4. Entrepreneurship is increasingly specialised, and supported by an infrastructure. If you have a great idea, and can attract the aid of venture capital, you will be much more likely to succeed 5. Entrepreneurship is more common in certain industries than in others. You can potentially become a billionaire pursuing almost any business idea, but are much more likely to succeed if you do so in a rapidly growing (and novel) field – as biotechnology and IT have been during the past decades. 6. Entrepreneurship typically requires industry experience. Steve Jobs worked at Atari before founding Apple. Microsoft founder Paul Allen worked as a programmer for Honeywell 7. Entrepreneurship requires scaling up. Edison gained over 1,000 US patents not merely through his own work, but by creating the first industrial research laboratory

According to the analysis, Britain produced one entrepreneur for every two million people. By contrast Hong Kong produced almost three entrepreneurs for every million, Israel 1.7 per million and the US 1.3 per million.

However, the study suggested Britain was still better than most eurozone countries when it came to producing successful entrepreneurs - beating Germany, Spain, France and Italy.

The report by Dr Nima Sanandaji found personality is one of the most important attributes to becoming a successful SuperEntrepeneuer.

These include creativity, work ethic, ambition, optimism, self-confidence, leadership qualities, adaptiveness, drive to achieve, tolerance of ambiguity, resilience, tolerance of stress, decisiveness, ability to deal with failure, a high energy level and good social skills.

Dr Sanandaji warned the burden of high taxes and red tape is preventing Britain from breeding enough globally successful entrepreneurs.

In an article for The Daily Telegraph he urged the Government to cut capital gains tax and scrap the top 45p tax rate.

He also criticised Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith for suggesting the Coalition's welfare reforms were encouraging more people to start successful businesses.

Last week Mr Duncan Smith hailed Britain's ‘entrepreneurial spirit’ after the Bank of England highlighted figures showing a record 4.5 million people are self-employed.

But Dr Sanandaji wrote: ‘The Work and Pensions Secretary was conflating self-employment with entrepreneurship. In reality, the two phenomena are quite different.

‘The Coalition's benefit reforms may well promote self-employment, which is a good thing in itself. But it is wrong to suppose that reducing benefits will do much for entrepreneurship.

‘In order to do that, the Coalition should turn its attention to cutting business and personal tax rates and taking the axe to red tape.’



