Recruitment consultants planning to establish their own company have been advised by an industry insider not to wait until the market improves to launch their business start-up.

According to Petra Benes, who is part of a franchise concept in The Netherlands, starting a business during a crisis has advantages as it can help people develop survival skills.

Writing on social business forum LinkedIn, she said: "If you can survive this, you can survive everything. I'd rather test that now than after three years of good business and find that my business is not strong enough to survive a storm."

She also advised aspiring business owners to try to find a niche in the market and to ensure they stand out from the rest of the pack by providing something different.

In her case, it is the ability to speak seven languages, which enables her to focus on companies that do business internationally.

A campaign by Keep Britain Working is currently pushing for more measures to help UK business expand globally.