Prime Minister Theresa May welcomed members of her Small Business, Scale ups and Entrepreneurs Business Council to Downing Street today (Wednesday 10 July) to discuss future opportunities and challenges for their sector.
With small businesses making up an overwhelming majority of all businesses in the UK, this council brings together representatives from SMEs and start-ups to provide their unique perspective on how companies can invest, grow and succeed.
The Prime Minister heard from the co-chairs, James Timpson (CEO of Timpsons), Brent Hoberman (Co-Founder and Chairman of Founders' Factory) and Emma Jones (Founder of Enterprise Nation) on progress since the council's inaugural meeting in March and the opportunities ahead.
The council began with a focus on how to encourage and support small businesses to go global and scale-up internationally.
They discussed boosting the competitiveness of the UK's tech sector and accelerating technological innovation, alongside government's role in attracting young people to this industry and encouraging entrepreneurship as a career choice.
The council also welcomed discussions on how smaller companies can create a rewarding work-place culture and encourage corporate social responsibility and philanthropy.
The Small Business, Scale ups and Entrepreneurs Business Council meets three times a year. Work on the issues discussed is ongoing and they will meet again later this year to take forward their proposals in further detail.
Council members:
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Emma Jones, Enterprise Nation
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James Timpson, Timpson
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Brent Hoberman, Founders' Factory
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Stan Boland, FiveAI
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Mike Cherry, FSB
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Ben Francis, Gymshark
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Amit Gudka, Bulb
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Gareth Jones, TownSquare
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Grainne Kelly, Bubblebum
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Alastair Lukies, Motive Partners
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John Roberts, AO.com
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Richard Walker, Iceland
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Sherry Coutu, Founders4Schools and ScaleUp Institute
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Karen Friendship, Aldermans
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Matthew Moulding, The Hut Group
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Rebecca Pick, Pick Protection
