US Edition Lessons in entrepreneurship need to be embedded in the curriculum from an early age so school pupils believe becoming an entrepreneur is an option, the star of BBC's Dragon's Den has said.
Speaking to former Education Secretary David Blunkett, Deborah Meaden said that, at school, she received little encouragement towards her ambitions.
"When I was at school, I didn’t have the option of being an entrepreneur, everyone had to choose a profession. I’ve got an inquiring mind, I should have enjoyed school."
Ms Meaden said it was important for entrepreneurship to be on the agenda at school and for historical entrepreneurs to be "venerated". She added that this would mean that when students progressed to higher education their minds would already be open to the concept.
"I would have enjoyed university," she said, "if I thought that university could have genuinely added something and helped me do the thing that I really wanted to do. I didn’t think it could."
Having left school after her O levels, Deborah Meaden studied at business college and launched a glass and ceramics import company at the age of 19, but made it big when she sold the family business, Weststar Holidays, for £33m.
Speaking in an interview for London School of Business and Finance (LSBF), she stated that she had always been fascinated with business and "doing [her] own thing", even when she was young; adding, "I didn’t know I was being an entrepreneur."
Echoing Sir Richard Branson's sentiments in a recent interview with the Telegraph, Deborah Meaden also said that you can learn as much from failing as you can from succeeding.
"I wouldn’t do anything differently. Getting things wrong is as important as getting things right. I have learnt a lot. I know what I want to spend my time doing in life, and more importantly, I definitely know what I don’t want to do.
"The downs in life are as important as the ups, it’s how you handle those downs that matters. The downs didn’t stop me, they made me think, ‘I really don’t like this feeling. What do I learn from it and what do I go on and do differently?'"
Speaking about the future of both business and education, Deborah Meaden concluded that "technologically, we've all got to get smarter."
"I’ve always embraced new technologies," she said, "and I genuinely think that the Internet has improved our lives. The way that young people have grown up with technology has given them a massive advantage, and that’s something that they can move into their business life.
"Education can teach the process of entrepreneurship – from idea to market. I see a lot of really great entrepreneurial people who are just a little disconnected. I think they’ll get where they want to go, but with a little bit more help in the structure, they would get there quicker