News April 2010
Shadow minister for business and enterprise, Mark Prisk has big plans for small businesses should the Conservatives find themselves in power after the General Election.
Recently in The Times, Mark Prisk said he wanted to scrap Business Link, claiming “Many surveys show that only a small proportion of businesses use them and those that do are dissatisfied with the services they receive.” This evidence is further supported by Stephen Alambritis of the Federation of Small Businesses who reported that “Currently only a fifth of our members use Business Link services”.
Business Link, an advisory service to help small businesses set up and grow, was launched in 1993 by Conservative cabinet minister Michael Heseltine. It is funded by the taxpayer and currently employs 1,600 advisors across the UK. Prisk proposes to replace Business Link with more local enterprise agencies.
Following the announcement from Mark Prisk, Terry Forsey, the UK’s leading Technology Sales and Marketing Coach, conducted a short survey via LinkedIn entitled “The Conservatives say they want to close the BusinessLink – Do you have an opinion?” the results and feedback reported the following –
- 44% wanted to keep Business Link
- 17% didn’t care
- 37% said to close Business Link
Terry commented, “I am not surprised at these results. I work with many Smaller Businesses. What is clear for entrepreneurs running their own companies is that they really need advice from real ‘business people’ who have actually ‘been there and done that’ rather than a civil servant who has little or no experience.”
He added, “I am committed to driving the debate to achieve better and more relevant support for Small Businesses to unleash the wealth creation potential of entrepreneurs and transform the UK to an incubator of emerging entrepreneurial talent”.
In the Entrepreneurs Manifesto 2010, Terry advised that all business advisors should be experienced and skilled entrepreneurs with a track record of wealth creation and the understanding of running a profitable small business.
Whether Business Link is scrapped or not in the future, the UK’s Small Businesses will provide a very significant level of contribution to the UK’s economic recovery. Terry continued to say, “The government should be focusing on the massive potential of entrepreneurial talent that lies in the UKs Small to Medium Businesses. Statistics from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills in 2009 reported that SMEs together accounted for 60 per cent of private sector employment and 50 per cent of private sector turnover.”
Terry concluded that “Whatever happens in the future, the government needs to be ‘Small Business friendly’, focusing on providing this sector with relevant skills and advice to enable business owners to be effective, successful and most importantly profitable.”
Click here to read the Entrepreneur’s Manifesto or to contribute to the debate email manifesto@terryforsey.com
ENDS
