Respondents to the online poll were asked to comment upon an entrepreneur’s ability to learn skills such as risk-taking, sacrifice and focus, with just one-third saying that these traits could be learned.

Dan Martin, chairman of UK Business Forums, comments: ‘It is clear from our survey that entrepreneurs are firmly of the belief that while the basics of business can be taught in the classroom, when it actually comes to being a proper entrepreneur, these are skills which are natural and cannot be learnt from textbooks.

‘The number of hugely successful company founders who left school early but went on to make millions suggests our members may be right.’

Meanwhile, another survey has revealed that TV programmes such as The Apprentice and Dragons’ Den have encouraged would-be business people working in office jobs to daydream about starting up on their own.

Barclays Local Business marketing director, John Davis, says: ‘For budding entrepreneurs, the routine of their day job can spark dreams of going onto bigger and better things.’