PEOPLE from a family business background in Scotland are twice as likely to start their own venture than those who are not, a closely watched monitor of entrepreneurial activity has found.

Family businesses are prolific incubators of spin-off companies, with 25 per cent of early-start entrepreneurs reporting their business was developed from a family concern.

The 2014 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), compiled by the University of Strathclyde, signalled that entrepreneurs from a family business background are more likely to feel they have the skills to start their own venture, spot opportunities, and are less likely to fear failure.

Report author professor Jonathan Levie, of the university's Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, said: “The GEM findings demonstrate that people who grow up in a family business don’t wait around to take over the reins, but are twice as likely as other people to start a new business from scratch.

“Often the new business is a way for them to prove themselves as future family business leaders, but their new business can sometimes save the family firm by reinventing it. It just shows family businesses can be dynamic– and how business families can be entrepreneurial.”