The Prime Minister was in Leeds on Monday to announce the Government’s latest scheme to give small firms and start-ups a helping hand.
We were at the event to see David Cameron launch the ‘Business in You’ campaign, unpinned with the announcement the Government is to to open up vacant or under-used workplaces to SMEs at discount prices.
Just days later came the news that the UK’s economy has shrunk by 0.2% in the three months to December 2011. There’s absolutely no question that whatever can be done to help must be done as the nation teeters on the brink of the much feared double dip recession – although that’s by no means a certainty.
As part of the Business in You scheme, the Government has outlined plans to offer more than 300 governmental buildings which are sitting idle and gathering dust to fledgling firms for one year at super-low rates.
The hope is that entrepreneurs will be able to use the cheap office space as a launch pad to get their business off the ground, with a full 12 months to gain momentum and establish themselves.
This subsidised perk will only be offered to small firms, and will be managed by specialist business ‘incubation organisations’ which will allocate space.
This has been made possible because of Government spending cuts in the public sector, meaning many buildings are either empty or are only partly occupied. The rent paid will help boost treasury coffers – so it’s a win-win situation.
The goal now is for the Government to get the message out there to the people who really matter. To help them do this the ‘Business in You’ drive will see workshops being held around the country offering free advice on how to go about signing up, as well as information on other more common issues faced by those entrepreneurs with a savvy business idea, but little idea on how to take it forward.
The workshops will be advertised in radio, newspaper and billboard adverts throughout the year.
Start up businesses need all the help they can muster in order to grow and flourish, particularly in the current climate. So it’s excellent to see the Government rolling its sleeves up and getting stuck in to the issue.
We all know that for the UK economy to move forward and lift the country out of the doldrums there needs to be serious growth in the private sector.
This is essential for the economy to rebalance itself with an emphasis on SMEs leading the charge forward. Britain has a rich history of entrepreneurship and we need to encourage more of that for that charge to see positive results.
