Stevenage 75th anniversary magazine | biz4Biz - Magazine - Page 7
businesses are included in the calculation)
and about half of the private sector’s
turnover. Clearly, they are hugely valuable
and we need to nurture them. However
that means giving them the support
they need to thrive, which can’t be done
without giving them a voice.
They can be an answer to revving up the
UK economy and reversing more than a
decade of stalled productivity according
to Goldman Sachs in partnership with the
Aston Centre for Growth; Saïd Business
School, University of Oxford; and Seven
Hills Communications. The 10,000
Small Businesses (10KSB) survey shows
small businesses want help on upskilling
and finding the right talent, improving
small businesses’ access to financing,
dealing with late payments (my own
particular burden to bear), upgrading and
expanding the UK’s digital capacity, small
businesses as key partners to help the UK
meet its net-zero objectives, new ways of
helping withstand changes in the energy
market. In terms of AI, many firms are
already using it and want support to
take advantage of the opportunities it
presents through education and financial
incentives, and clear guidance on AI
specifically aimed at small businesses.
Small businesses in the UK want a voice
in the government. Having the right
policies in place to enhance productivity
wouldn’t just help smaller companies but
could boost the entire UK economy. What
we really need is a small is first approach.
Hull City Council took this approach
about 3 years ago with its Micro Business
Strategy: This will involve encouraging
entrepreneurial skills and attitudes
and recognising the contribution that
enterprise activity can make to people’s
lives and communities, particularly
amongst young people. We will link
micro businesses with new initiatives
and financial opportunities to enable
sustained prosperity. We aim to build on
Hull’s culture of micro businesses as part
of the process of rebalancing of the local
economy.
We know not all businesses succeed.
Government figures show that a fifth
of businesses fail in their first year and
three fifths go bust within their first three
years. But we can give them the best
chance of applying their entrepreneurial
spirit and being all they can be, for the
“MPs hail small businesses as the lifeblood of our
economy. They account for half of employment
(60% if medium sized businesses are included in
the calculation) and about half of the private sector’s
turnover. Clearly, they are hugely valuable and we
need to nurture them. However that means giving
them the support they need to thrive, which can’t be
done without giving them a voice. ”
good of themselves and their families,
employees, society, communities and the
economy. But if we don’t hear from them
about what they really need we’re setting
them up to fail.
Stevenage, give small businesses a voice
and a seat to the table, follow a ‘small
first’ approach, and watch them lead your
regeneration for the good of everyone
including the big businesses. You’ll be the
envy of towns and cities around the UK.
biz4Biz.org
7
