'Help Small Firms' plea to Holyrood

WeDO Scotland, the small business lobby group, has called on the Scottish government for greater emphasis on supporting SMEs and more clarity of the support mechanisms on offer.

In a budget submission to the Holyrood Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee, it says the “myriad of resources available are not clearly promoted nor easy to understand once identified”. And it adds, “We note with interest that there is no equivalent to Start Up Britain in Scotland” – an innovation that Scot-Buzz has been championing over the past year. 

WeDO Scotland was founded in 2008 by Belinda Roberts to address a perceived gap in the market for a support organisation to enable Scottish SMEs with high growth potential to achieve their aspirations. It represents 150 members, all of whom are business owners and founders with the majority being based in Edinburgh.

While the submission notes that Scotland’s economic development bodies have become more supportive of SMEs, “in our opinion, there are still considerable improvements that could and should be made.”

Highlights from the submission include:

• “Schemes such as the High Growth Programme from Scottish Enterprise are in themselves positive, however we feel that there is a general lack of understanding about who can apply. “Lack of access to this information is a key issue for many SMEs and greater clarity should be sought.

• “There needs to be more diligence applied to aligning Account Managers with relevant experience and expertise to high growth companies who are accepted on to the Programme. For those fortunate enough to be assigned Account Managers from relevant backgrounds, their experiences have been very positive, however this is not always the case. 

• The number of micro businesses in the UK is at an all-time high since the recession struck and whilst the overwhelming majority of these are sole traders, there are many smaller business employing fewer than 10 staff. Many of these businesses have the potential to grow into substantial businesses which will support the growth of the Scottish economy. Appointing a high profile small business adviser at Scottish Government level to help formulate policy on business start-ups and SMEs, push through reform and provide a regular feedback on progress achieved would be welcomed.

• “Access to funding to enable SMES to achieve their growth plans continues to be the major challenge for many. Whilst substantial budgets have been allocated to supporting these businesses, the reality is that, in many cases, a very small percentage of the funds available have been allocated. For these schemes to have real impact, analysis of the eligibility to apply and the subsequent decision-making process needs to be carried out. There seems little point in making funding available when it neither utilised nor adequately publicised to target audiences

• “More in-depth analysis of SMEs should be carried out. There is a distinct lack of information which is too broadly based to provide a true overview of this sector. There needs to be increased emphasis on supporting SMEs and more clarity of the support mechanisms on offer.  To many, the myriad of resources available are not clearly promoted nor easy to understand once identified. We note with interest that there is no equivalent to Start Up Britain in Scotland. (*) 

• “Having the right focus on SMEs with the potential to achieve considerable growth must be high on the list of priorities to aid the recovery of the Scottish economy.

• “More emphasis should be placed on ensuring that schemes such as the Modern Apprenticeships deliver the core skills needed by SMEs. In this digital age, the lack of education and training in core areas such as social media are not being addressed by further education or training.

• “A recent article in the Sunday Herald highlighted this issue in statistics supplied to them: 98.3% of Scottish businesses that are SMEs (those with up to 49 employees) are awarded only 13.5% of the total public spend in Scotland in 2010-11, and 14% in 2011-12.”

(*) The Start-Up Britain website currently shows the number of business start-ups across the UK so far this year   370,713. There is no available figure or Scotland.