Enterprise Britain

Orchard Growth Partners is pleased to announce that it has become a partner and contributor to the Enterprise Britain blog, which promotes the cause of smaller and medium sized companies in the UK. We asked Dirk van Dijl, the editor of Enterprise Britain, to tell us more.

1.  What is Enterprise Britain?

Enterprise Britain comprises a range of things. It is a term first used by Gordon Brown in 1997. Otherwise it is the people and companies who form the SMEs of our nation, a term we find rather belittling as it employs 60% of us.

The company Enterprise Britain is an expanding group of people who are all very active and experienced within the sector and a group which seeks to share experiences, networks and friendship.

2.  How did the idea come about?

Like so many ideas it came about by accident. We have been active in the sector Enterprise Britain for many years, having started, financed, restructured and sold companies and have had to deal with most of the problems everyone in the sector encounters. Tony Drury was asked to write some blogs for one of the broadsheets but wanted to widen his readership. I suggested publishing them ourselves and so it started. It was a bit of a surprise when it grew beyond all expectations. We now do a weekly newsletter to many thousands of readers and we have 10 regular contributors, all on a zero budget – cost control to the extreme.

3.  Why are SMEs so important?

We do not use the term SME for good reasons. Enterprise Britain employs 4.3 million people according to the then DTI. More people are employed by Enterprise Britain than by the public sector. Enterprise Britain is not only the engine of every economic recovery, it is also extraordinarily innovative. For example if we look at the environmental sector the innovations come from Enterprise Britain with things like car clubs and car sharing. Technology also finds it base in Enterprise Britain with many larger companies taking over or copying. Enterprise Britain has the creativity and flexibility needed to drive Britain ahead.

So for the recovery Enterprise Britain is key, as well as for innovation and the environment. Napoleon said we are a nation of shopkeepers, but we are also a nation of extraordinary creativity and innovation.

4.  What do you think has been the main effect of the recession on companies in Enterprise Britain?

Enterprise Britain has been a real sufferer of the recession. The old adage, make sure you owe the bank more than it can afford to lose is one Enterprise Britain cannot hang its hat on. The government bailed out the bankers and the car makers but did nothing to support Enterprise Britain. The equity players who had leveraged their investments to impossible levels made operating very difficult for many companies, all aside from the general loss of customers, credit facilities and sources of investment, and combined with complete focus of the government on the banks and no attention at all to these key drivers of the economy. The overall effect will be that Enterprise Britain will bounce back as it has done so many times before.

5.  In general how much is finance an issue for SMEs? How positive do your readers feel about banks and bank lending at the moment? What other sources of fund raising should SMEs look at?

Finance is always an issue. It helps Enterprise Britain grow and develop its talents. Banking has become increasingly difficult over the years I have worked in the sector and of course the complete drying up of banking facilities and often the unreasonable withdrawal of them to shrink their own balance sheets has only made it worse.

Equity markets also disappeared, and legislation makes all movement a real tough battle.

You have to be a bit careful, as it is easy to blame finance for all business problems, but I have seen many excellent companies get into severe difficulties as a result of having to put all focus on the financial challenges.

6.  Is life getting tougher for SMEs? Or alternatively does the recession offer real opportunities to well managed  SMEs?

Personally I think we have seen the worst of the recession so opportunities will start to open up again. As long as our financial and organisational structures have remained relatively intact we will soon be able to build again. There will always be economic cycles to deal with as well as exchange rates, market cycles, technology movements, etc. It’s all in a day’s work for Enterprise Britain.

7.   Do SME owners take too much on?

Enterprise Britain owners and managers have to perform multiple functions and we do not have legal, financial, human resources and other departments. We deal with the issues to the best of our abilities. These people drive their businesses with energy and creativity and generally have serious impatience with bureaucracy, in part as they do not have the resources to deal with them. One thing Enterprise Britain almost always needs is non executive support including the business analysis of a Finance Director. Many see the finance section as the one which files annual accounts, taxes and makes payments. However, we then miss the stories about our business the numbers tell us. These stories will tell us where our business is doing well and where adjustments are needed. Good and active part-time directors can help you through these complexities at quite a low cost.

8.  Do you think a change of government will make any difference to SMEs?

Successive governments have tried but not with much success. There are extraordinary tax benefits for investors in Enterprise Britain and there is always the loan guarantee scheme. However, these are not well known and very difficult to access. Any government coming in needs to work better with Enterprise Britain and needs to involve more people with real business experience and less former bankers. I am not optimistic but one can always hope.

9.  What messages/encouragement would you give to SME owners and managers in the current climate?

Enterprise Britain has extraordinary resilience, drive and belief in itself. These strengths will lead Enterprise Britain to help Britain build the next growth cycle – we can only dream that bankers and government will one day learn not to drive it into the next recession.

10.  And finally - what are your objectives for this year?

As a business Enterprise Britain started as a hobby, but it now has such a large and growing distribution we would like to put in on a commercial footing so we can expand our offering.  We have quite a few ideas and requests to make the Enterprise Britain useful as a marketing tool for companies as well as a resource for its readers.  We plan to get away from the zero budget whilst maintaining our cost controls. Please contact Enterprise Britain on mail@enterprisebritain.com if you have ideas, requests or would like to become part of this growing enterprise.

Click here to see the Enterprise Britain website http://enterprisebritain.blogspot.com/