One of the recipients, for his work in promoting entrepreneurship, was Jamie Murray-Wells on a day when the company he founded, Glasses Direct, announced it had secured £10 million in additional investment for expansion into the US.

All in all a good day for the young entrepreneur, but also for all those who received Royal recognition for their own business success or achievements in encouraging others on their own entrepreneurial journey.

2009 has proved to be a record year for the Queen’s Awards. A total of 194 businesses and individuals receiving the honour, the highest number in the Awards’ 44 year history.

Of these 135 were given to companies in the international trade category, 49 for innovation and 10 for sustainable development.

The Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion was given to a further 11 individuals – the prestigious lifetime achievement award going to Professor Allan Gibb former director of the small business centre at the University of Durham.

A recent survey of previous winners reveals the business benefits of the awards:

77% of winners reported the win had brought added commercial value to their business;

73% of winners saw employee engagement rise;

73% of winners gained extra press coverage;

85% of winners said the impact of winning a Queen’s Award met or exceeded their expectations;

57% of International Trade winners experienced increased recognition overseas.

Fifteen entrepreneurs received offers of investment from the Den in the most recent episode, although due diligence probably put paid to a fair few of those.  Nevertheless, for the right business or invention for all its melodrama, the show still represents an investment opportunity.  And with the credit crunch in full swing … maybe it’s a good option

Anyone wanting to apply for a place in the programme should email dragonsden@bbc.co.uk or head over to the website for further details www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden.

The programme, which has been running for six years, is designed to provide support to people from disadvantaged areas and backgrounds who have the ambition to start a business, but find it hard to get support and finance. 

Statistics from the independent evaluation of the scheme suggest that 59% of NES scholars were classed as unemployed or economically inactive at the start of the course. 

75% went on to start their own business within three months of completing the programme and survival rates are equally impressive.  94% are still trading after one year, 86% after three years and 76% after five years.

Funded by the Learning and Skills Council the scheme is managed by the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies, the Association of Business Schools and The Prince’s Trust.

If you calculate the per head spend of the NES programme it comes to about £6,500 per participant.  Which to me sounds like pretty good value for money.  With business survival rates that high and the additional benefit of taking people off social security, the payback begins to look pretty good too.

More government support, cheaper telecoms/broadband and lower bank charges topped the list of areas proposed to help address these perceived inequalities.  Only 21% of the 2,000+ senior owner/managers surveyed felt that the government was doing enough to support them and encourage start-ups. 

This despite the fact that the last 4-5 years has seen a significant rise in the total number of small and medium sized businesses in the UK.

Red tape continues to be a burden with more women (53%) than men (41%) saying it would put them off starting a business again.

All in all not a terribly positive picture.  Having said that the number of women choosing to leave employed to start and run their own business has increased over recent years according to data from Prowess.

As Jo Ray, managing director of Sage’s SME business, recognises in SmallBizPod’s podcast on women business owners, there are some positive signs for female entrepreneurship and perception may not quite have caught up with the reality on the ground.

House Revolution, a Norfolk-based online estate agency service, is in the process of securing £500,000 investment from 12 angel investors following meetings with London Business Angels. 

Bedfordshire-based Pets’ Kitchen, a natural pet food company, has also attracted the attention of Cambridge Capital Group, a private syndicate of angel investors and is hoping to secure £200,000.

All the other finalists will benefit from free advice and support from EEDA and its partners.

Doug Richard, chairman of Library House, former ‘dragon’, and chair of the competition’s investor panel said:

The access to investors and the wealth of support that EEDA and the partner organisations are offering here is outstanding. Money can’t buy this kind of help when you need it and it’s all being made freely available through ‘running the gauntlet’. These companies can’t lose. If they act on the advice and stay focused I feel confident there will be more successes to come out of this year’s competition over the next 6 – 12 months.

The stories, experiences and advice of successful business people from ethnic minorities will be presented to students through what the universities are calling a ‘virtual learning environment’.

Dr Javed Hussain from Birmingham City University Business School will be outlining the project at the Institute For Small Business and Entrepreneurship conference in Glasgow on 7-9 November.

This reticence is a reflection of lack of self-confidence and a fear of failure which Orange suggests shows a “worrying lack of faith in our business abilities”.  Nevertheless, 14% of the 2,481 interviewed for the survey said that they were actively exploring setting up their own business.

Fear of failure, of course, is completely justified and one wonders whether as a nation we really want 50% of the adult population running their own businesses.  Those who decide not to pursue the entrepreneurial life have probably made a good choice.

Interestingly, the same survey reveals that the UK public is increasingly seeing entrepreneurs in a favourable light, despite the pantomime antics of The Apprentice and Dragon’s Den.

Less than 20 per cent of people characterise successful entrepreneurs as selfish or arrogant. Instead, over 90 per cent of people associate confidence and hard work with success stories, with over 60 per cent also associating creativity and courage with success in business.