Young entrepreneur? Come back in three years...

TOO young . . . that’s what hard-working Matt Howarth was told

A successful businessman has been barred from a Young Entrepreneur of the Year Competition — because contest officials say at 22, he’s too young!

Hard working Matt Howarth has run several successful business ventures since leaving school, including a website design company and property conversion.

But when Matt, who refused to go to university, applied to enter the British Council’s Young Interactive Entrepeneur of the Year Award — which carries a £5,000 first prize — he was told to wait three years. The British Council said it had set the minimum age limit at 25 because it “wanted to reach people with real business experience rather than just academic training.’’

Matt runs his own interactive digital media solutions company, Virtual Construction, in Failsworth, and has a team of five staff.

He said: “I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It was weird to be told that I wasn’t old enough to be a ‘young entrepreneur”.

“What annoys me more than anything is this symbolised the lazy assumption from some people that the only route to business achievement is going to university.

“To them, everyone who leaves school at 18 should do three years at university have a gap year as well, then start being an entrepreneur at 22 — which gives them three years to have a go and then be eligible for the competition.

“The fact is I couldn’t wait to make my mark after leaving school.

“I made a calculated business decision not to go to university — I didn’t want the debt, and I set my own learning goals instead.

“I’ve never regretted it. Now, when many of my contemporaries are just leaving college, I’m interviewing new graduates for jobs in my own company.

“It’s disheartening that you can’t get these awards because you’re not at the age to have gone through university.”

Matt created his first website at 13 and was forming companies at 16.

He said, “There was just something about school didn’t work for me. I was more of a self-directed learner, I’d read books on my lunch break.

“School would teach me things that don’t mean much in the real world. No-one mentions National Insurance, VAT or buying regulations — things that are important when you get out into the real world.

“Awards like this one could be a real boost to the thousands of young people who choose a different path in life.”