Lord Young launches new enterprise schemes at Number 10

New start-up supporting initiatives are making Britain an even better environment for entrepreneurs

Lord Young launches new enterprise schemes at Number 10

Unsurprisingly, we’re pretty keen on anything that advances the start-up agenda nationally. Which is why any day that kicks off with David Cameron championing the importance of small business on BBC Radio 4’s Today is going to be pretty special in our book. When it also comes packaged with a raft of enterprise friendly initiatives, that only adds a sweetener to a rather palatable brew.

Along with cutting swathes of red tape, doubling the upper limit of the Small Business Rate Relief and the introduction of a £2,000 Employment Allowance to assist employers with National Insurance Contributions, perhaps the most welcome news for start-ups will be the announcement of the new Growth Vouchers and the Business Exchange platform.

Speaking at the launch of these initiatives, Emma Jones, founder of business network Enterprise Nation, commented: “When you hear small business on the news at breakfast, lunch and tea, it’s a big day for small business.”

The fruits of a combined project between BIS, Cabinet Office and Enterprise Nation, the £30m Growth Voucher programme will deliver will offer support of up to approximately 20,000 of Blighty’s small businesses. This will scale from assisting sole traders in hiring their first employee up to matching a like-for-like £2,000 stipend to aide growing enterprises secure their first bank loan.

Business Exchange adroitly addresses the other resources start-ups may struggle to access, putting fledgling firms in closer contact with of major corporations the likes of Facebook, Balfour Beatty, BT and Sainsbury’s. Pledges from these big players range from providing support and expertise to committing to open up their supply chain and procurement to more small- to medium-sized enterprises.

Andrea Young, head of enterprise at Department of Business, Innovation & Skills said:  “It’s about how bigger, more enabled businesses can really reach out to smaller businesses and help them by mentoring, providing space, providing apprenticeships, skills – whatever it might be.”

Explaining the overall push behind the initiatives, Lord Young said: “This suite of brilliant programmes are all designed to do one thing: help the 95.5% of firms in this country that employ fewer than ten people. And I think the climate for small firms has never, never been better than it is today. The prospects are really good.”

Certainly with such great plans in the offing, the future is looking rather bright for our start-ups. 

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