Genes Key to Entrepreneurs’ Drive

It used to be widely assumed that the entrepreneurial spirit in children was based on the influence of one’s parents. According to a new study of identical twins in Britain and the U.S., that is not the case anymore. It seems that a person’s ability or drive to become self-employed may be in his or her genes. This suggests that entrepreneurs are mostly born rather than made.
The study compared self-employment in 609 pairs of identical twins and 657pairs of same-sex non identical twins. The former share all the same genes, while the latter share about half.
Researchers found that the rate of entrepreneurship in identical twins is greater than that in non-identical twins. Put differently, it means that when one twin was an entrepreneur, it was more likely that the second twin would also become one. Contrary to previous beliefs, family environment and upbringing, it seems, have little influence.