10,000 Small Businesses: SMEs vital to the region’s future economic health

THE business experts behind a programme intended to boost the prospects of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) says such firms are vital to the future economic prosperity of the region.

The 10,000 Small Businesses programme is the brainchild of investment banking firm Goldman Sachs. It is designed to provide high-quality, practical support to the owners and leaders of established small businesses as they seek to grow.

This story is part of a supplement on the 10,000 Small Businesses programme, produced in association with Goldman Sachs. To read more click here.

The programme is delivered through a network of local partners who combine relevant academic expertise and extensive experience working with the owners and leaders of small businesses. In this region that partner is Aston University (via Aston Business School).

Speaking at an event attended by a number of the programme’s alumni, Chris Gorst, executive director of Goldman Sachs, said:  “It is pretty well-established research that the job creators in the economy, in good times and bad times, are predominantly small businesses.

“We wanted to design a programme and set up partnerships to make a real difference to small businesses to help job creation.

“We saw quite a lot of activity to support start up enterprises but not so much acivity looking at established businesses which had the potential to grow at a really exponential rate.”

Professor Mark Hart, professor of small business and entrepreneurship at Aston Business School, suggests it is essential that there are programmes like this to support small, growing businesses.

He said:  “I’ve been doing research on small businesses and small business growth for many years. We know that about 10 or 11,000 businesses in the economy create about half of the jobs.

“The attraction was to make a very clear contribution to the economy of the Midlands.”

“I think there is an opportunity here in the Midlands to really use a programme like this to get more growth into sectors such as manufacturing.

“This is a programme that can bring businesses forward.

“It is about supporting what I see as a unique group of business leaders. It’s not just about delivering the programme and looking at the business growth plans, but of working with them to achieve that.”