Gibbins joins Cable’s entrepreneurs’ panel

BUSINESS secretary Vince Cable has announced that the government has created a new Entrepreneurs’ Forum to advise the Coalition Government on new business and enterprise policies.

The forum will be made up of 26 people, including former Flowcrete owner Dawn Gibbins, who sold her Nantwich-based flooring business in 2008 in a £30m deal.

The government said that a significant portion of the panel are women and that increasing the rate of female entrepreneurship will be one of the areas the forum is encouraged to investigate.

“People with the courage to start up a business will be crucial to driving the growth of the economy,” said Cable. “Start-ups create jobs, stimulate innovation and provide a competitive spur to existing businesses to encourage them to increase their productivity.

“I am delighted with the quality of the membership of my new forum and look forward to bouncing ideas off them and hearing their views.”

The forum will meet around four times a year, with a flexible schedule according to the material to be discussed. The first meeting is expected to take place early in the new year.

The Government has also announced an enterprise allowance scheme to encourage unemployed to become entrepreneurs.