Almost unnoticed, and undeservedly, the results of a survey commissioned by the card company Visa and conducted by the agency Opinium have passed. The survey, which included a sample of 550 children aged eight to fourteen from eight countries, including Croatia, showed, among other things, that three-quarters (77 percent) of Generation Alpha aspires to establish their own business venture, run a small company, or engage in a job that serves as an additional source of income. Only thirteen percent said they would work for others. Supporting the entrepreneurial enthusiasm in the generation born after 2010 is the fact that 58 percent of the surveyed children earned money on their own in the last twelve months, mostly by selling items online. In a comment from Visa, it is concluded that ‘the data suggests that Generation Alpha has the potential to completely change the way companies and communities will operate in the next five to ten years.’
It is difficult to predict what the entrepreneurial environment will look like in 2035. With the consequences that digitalization, demographics, robotization, artificial intelligence, climate change, and a host of other factors are already bringing to social and economic relations, anything is possible. Even that the majority of future young people in Central Europe, aged between 25 and 35, will have their own business. However, it should be taken into account that key behavioral patterns in societies like Croatia show centuries-old resilience and persistence despite all technological innovations and changed social arrangements.
Seductive Influencers
Over time, those 77 percent who would be entrepreneurs and their own bosses, whether they like it or not, will become aware of the real entrepreneurial life, influenced by the enchanting and seductive examples of influencers on TikTok who supposedly earn millions while enjoying life. They will come to realize that truly successful young entrepreneurs work at least ten hours a day. Yes, when you have your own company, you cannot say after a year: ‘I’m going to an employer who will understand me, where I won’t have to come to work, who won’t ask me for results.’ Because you are the employer! You cannot fire yourself. Unless you want to be among that ‘loser’ minority that stated they would rather work for someone.
—
—
Perhaps we older ones are too pessimistic, but it is hard to imagine that bureaucracy, in the combination of Brussels and Zagreb, will make life for entrepreneurs from Generation Alpha less bitter than it is now. In socialism, municipal powers justified violence against the economy and entrepreneurs (as they were called) with ‘directives from the Party Committee.’ Today, multiparty rule formally prevails, but piles of meaningless regulations are again ‘directives from above.’ The justification is no longer party committees, but ‘committees’ of the European Commission.
Sooner or later, the romantic members of Generation Alpha will hear about many cases of corrupt bureaucrats, controversial judges, political racketeers, and teams that, as soon as you succeed, knock on your door and offer ‘protection.’
They will understand that the 13 percent who want to work for others are not exactly ‘losers.’ Especially if they plan to work for the best employer in the country – the state. At least every four years, employees threaten their boss before elections that they will take to the streets, and the government, fearing loss of votes, distributes coefficients generously. Unfairly competing with private employers. From whom, which is not unimportant, the generous employer state, in order to raise salaries for its own, seizes hard-earned entrepreneurial profits through taxes.
Dilemmas and Traps
For members of Generation Alpha who, even after all these realizations, let’s say ten percent remain, and their entrepreneurial enthusiasm does not wane, there remains a plethora of dilemmas and traps on how to build their little empire.
Should they establish their own company right after college or spend five to ten years gaining knowledge from others? Stick to one activity or listen to where there is currently money and jump from EU funds to green transition or artificial intelligence? Rely on state money or slowly create their own funds and reinvest profits from the market? Sell in the real market or focus on satisfying the demand of local and central government and quasi-state consumers of taxpayers’ money? Agree to bribery or sacrifice easy growth for peaceful sleep? Domestic market or global? Independent company or partnership? A company created for quick sale or one that lasts for decades in family ownership?
Let’s hope that Visa will survive and that the artificial intelligence the company will use will remember the survey from 2024 and check in 2033 on the same sample how much entrepreneurial enthusiasm remains in Generation Alpha.
