Planting the seed

grow... and new programme From little things big things aims to add some fertilizer

FIFTEEN of the UK’s top business schools are sharing their expertise to help micro-enterprises grow.

A programme delivered via the Small Business Charter (SBC) is part of a £9m package to support the minnows via Business Basics, run by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and Innovate UK.

The funding will allow the SBC to assist 700 microbusinesses that employ nine people or fewer to engage with technology and boost their overall productivity.

A consortium of accredited business schools will deliver the Leading To Grow programme — at no cost to participants — across England, mostly in tbe north and midlands.

With Leeds, Newcastle Sheffield, Leicester, Nottingham, London, Manchester and Birmingham covered, the programme has the potential to make a difference to the regions.

The dispersed nature of small enterprises has historically side-lined them from government intervention programmes.

They are getting their day in the sun because of their increasingly evident potential, and their general readiness to scale-up.

More than a million microbusinesses currently employ some four million people and contribute an annual £533bn to the UK economy. HARNESSING TECHNOLOGY Small Business Minister Kelly Tolhurst said her experience as an entrepreneur had shown her the importance of harnessing technology.

“Helping small and microbusinesses make better use (of this programme) will enable them to seize new opportunities, boost productivity and scale-up in new markets as we look to leave the EU,” she said in an interview.

Anne Kiem of the SBC agreed, and said that it seemed an exciting initiative. “The pace of technological advances means that small firms who embrace innovation will be tomorrow’s success stories”

* Small businesses can apply to take part by visiting smallbusinesscharter.org