Financing for SMEs: Why preparation is key – Investec Comment November 2, 2015 It’s been a fairly regular refrain over the past six or seven years that small businesses can’t access finance. I’ve never been persuaded by that view. It is the case that, due to capital constraints and reductions in headcount, the days when a company could simply call a bank and automatically arrange a loan are [...]
Entrepreneurs need a stable tax policy landscape to thrive October 28, 2015 THE cut and thrust of politics may not matter all that much to entrepreneurs. But policies certainly do – particularly those related to tax. Some have been a boon for businesses: Entrepreneurs’ Relief and the Enterprise Investment Schemes (EIS) have been particularly welcome. The former grants entrepreneurs a 10 per cent tax rate on [...]
Finance fears are putting off 40 per cent of Brits who’d like to start their own business October 26, 2015 Forget a nation of shopkeepers, we're a would-be nation of entrepreneurs – almost 40 per cent of Britons would like to start their own business. But a lack of stable income, and fears over financing are forcing Brits to bin their business plans, according to a survey from Intouch Accounting. More than half of under-35s [...]
RationalFX and Xendpay founder Rajesh Agrawal on Apple Pay, Masai warriors and the future of banks October 25, 2015 When I get the Tube, I always pay using my Apple Watch,” says Rajesh Agrawal. The Indian-born entrepreneur and philanthropist doesn’t exactly need to take the Jubilee Line to work – in The Sunday Times Rich List 2012, he was estimated to be worth around £90m. But making money has never been the aim: “look [...]
The pros and cons of younger managers: Millennials are inspiring and dynamic but lack experience October 21, 2015 Disloyal, inexperienced, lacking in expertise – the reasons for not promoting younger managers are various. But a survey published earlier this month by leadership development consultancy Zenger/Folkman suggests that leaders aged 30 or below are actually more effective than those aged 40 or above. When ranked for overall leadership effectiveness, 44 per cent of the [...]
We’re buying more and more of our wine online as millennials learn to drink wine October 20, 2015 Don’t drink and… click? Britons are ignoring this advice, it seems. Online sales of wine are going through the roof, as the country’s millennials are growing up and learning to appreciate the taste of a nice bottle of plonk. E-commerce is driving nearly all of wine retail’s growth, according to Rabobank’s latest Wine Quarterly report. [...]
Consumer anxiety around rogue traders and cowboy builders is costing the UK £6bn – FMB October 20, 2015 Shoddy tradespeople and cowboy builders are costing the UK economy more than £6bn a year, according to new research out today from the Federation of Master Builders (FMB). The data shows that consumers are letting their anxiety around hiring poor workmen curb their spending on home improvements. One in five consumers with building or repair [...]
There’s no room for complacency if we want to keep UK startups booming October 19, 2015 Unemployment is in decline. Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that the number of people out of work is at its lowest since the onset of the 2008 economic crisis. By the same token, employment is at its highest since records began in 1971. This is in no small part due [...]
Retail website StreetHub reveals $2.6m funding round led by Octopus Ventures October 19, 2015 StreetHub, a network of independent retailers, has announced a $2.6m (£1.7m) funding round, led by Octopus Ventures. The group also received investments from Index Ventures, which has stakes in online retailers Asos, Farfetch and Net-a-Porter, among others, as well as a number of other angel investors. The new funding round coincides with the launch of [...]
