What has fuelled the growth in living standards over recent times? Debt and technology, most certainly. But a significant, and overlooked, factor has been the increased variety of entrepreneurs who have created businesses, jobs and wealth.
It is clear to me that the diversity of those who work for themselves has changed beyond recognition in the past few decades. This broadening of the entrepreneurial gene pool has been of huge benefit to the British economy.
In 1980, when I took the plunge, very few women ever thought of starting a business. But in recent years they have been responsible for founding as many as a quarter of all new businesses, and that figure is climbing. I see no reason for the trend to reverse. And most of these female entrepreneurs are incremental: they are not displacing male entrepreneurs, but increasing the army of those who run a business. Because, as ever, capitalism is not a zero-sum game.