UK entrepreneurs are mature family men

As the government comes under pressure to foster start-up businesses, a study of 400 owner-managers by BDO Stoy Hayward found that the vast majority of entrepreneurs were middle-class, well educated, married males with children - their average age was 43.

Most came from families that fostered an entrepreneurial spirit, with over a third having parents who ran their own businesses.

And they appear to be ready put their noses to the grindstone, working more than 10 hours a day, with the average working week for an entrepreneur clocking in at 54 hours.

Not surprisingly then, a fifth said they would consider returning to paid employment.

Peter Leach, head of BDO's growth service, said the 'get rich quick, fame-hunting, aggressive owner manager of the early nineties' was gone.

'The emerging entrepreneur has an altogether different aim in life and wants to create a sustainable business for personal fulfilment and a rewarding work life balance,' Leach added.