Dragons’ Den Panelist Deborah Meaden, has this week launched a campaign in conjunction with the Federation Of Small Businesses (FSB), to urge more people to start their own business in the UK.
The campaign is aimed particularly at getting women to follow their dream and set up in business. FSB research has shown that just 11% of small businesses are 100% female owned and female majority owned account for only 3%.
The UK falls way behind the US in the amount of women entrepreneurs a fact that Meaden would like to see change in the light of this latest initiative.
The FSB back the campaign by saying that small businesses are the backbone of the economy employing 58% of the private sector workforce. The Federation hopes to help the bedrock of the UK economy - small businesses weather the economic storm, enabling the UK economy as a whole to remain strong.
Loading ...
1 comment so far
1 Rachel Elnaugh // Apr 11, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Britain doesn’t need more small businesses; it needs more SUCCESSFUL small businesses…
There are currently 4.7 million businesses in the UK and if recent research is anything to go by, 17 million people are now thinking of becoming an entrepreneur. Yet two thirds of small businesses continue to fold within their first two years - causing real financial hardship and often even bankruptcy/marriage breakdown.
The current financial climate is making the potential to establish a successful new business even more difficult, with very little funding available from any source and consumers experiencing an all time low of income.
I am all in favour of people pursuing their entrepreneurial dreams but I receive emails daily from people in business and really, really struggling. We need to educate people at the outset exactly how tough business can be and I urge anyone thinking of starting out to get as much advice as possible from the numerous free sources like Business Link, the Business Start Up Show and their local Chambers of Commerce.
Rachel Elnaugh