The Enterprise Initiative set out in the Department of Trade and Industry White Paper in January 1988 clearly demonstrated the commitment of the present U.K. government to new and small firms as part of their strategy to promote enterprise and reduce unemployment. Within Northern Ireland the Department of Economic Development produced a document in 1987 which reported the progress of its new economic development strategy called “Pathfinder”. One of the central elements of that strategy was the stimulation of a more positive attitude towards enterprise in an attempt to overcome the dominance of the employee mentality in the region and thus create the basis for “self-reliant” economic development. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the constraints and opportunities inherent in adopting such a policy in Northern Ireland by presenting some summary results of a research project into the attitudes of 16-18 year olds to self-employment as a career option. An analysis of the career aspirations among this target group, and comparisons with the results from a similar study among English school leavers, should reveal the extent to which new enterprise creation can realistically form the basis for economic development in Northern Ireland into the 1990s.