If we want growth, we should listen to the small businesses that create it
Small business owners are creative and impactful entrepreneurs, adept problem-solvers with a natural optimism. If we want answers on driving growth, it’s worth asking: what would they do? Says Charlotte Keenan
It’s no secret what this government is focused on: achieving growth. It’s a mission that is essential but challenging to put into practice, and no recent government has been able to crack the code.
When talking about ‘growth’, it is easy for the term to quickly become meaningless – an intangible, obscure concept, wrapped up in the latest GDP figures or rumours about the next release of ONS data. But to small businesses, growth and in particular lack of it, is daily reality.
Many of the Chancellor’s latest proposals, such as giving the green light to infrastructure projects like a third runway at Heathrow or a redevelopment of Old Trafford, may help in the long-term. But small business owners across the country could benefit from a boost today. These are creative and impactful entrepreneurs, adept problem-solvers with a natural optimism, who are used to solving knotty challenges with limited resources. Small business owners who know how to think big.
Given this group is responsible for driving so much of the growth that we do have, it begs the question: what would they do?
Today we are publishing a report which aims to answer that question. ‘The Growth Agenda’ outlines 18 proposals developed by a group of alumni from the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business UK programme. As business leaders running some of the UK’s most exciting and ambitious growth companies, they set about developing practical, deliverable policy ideas that could make a meaningful difference to growth both for themselves and the wider economy.
Three ‘growth shots’
Workshopped with policymakers and the wider business community, they are the “growth shots” that could supercharge the UK’s most entrepreneurial businesses. The following three ideas form part of an approach we believe can support economic growth by listening directly to the needs, inspiration and ideas of the small business community.
First is a proposal for a ‘Small Business Investment Summit’ mirroring the government’s International Investment Summit, which helped to secure £63bn of inward investment last year.
Accessing the finance to support growth is a big challenge for small businesses, especially those led by women and minorities. This Summit would showcase the UK’s vibrant small business ecosystem as a destination for attracting domestic and international investment, injecting much needed impetus into the UK’s stagnant growth. Our research published in early 2024 highlighted that unleashing the potential of the UK’s ambitious businesses could add £100bn and 88,000 jobs to the economy.
The summit would help small business leaders to better navigate the complex and often confusing funding landscape, while creating new relationships with investors. A large-scale, annual, government-backed event could not only help to get finance to businesses, but also create a moment to recognise the power and importance of SMEs to our economy.
Secondly, an ‘AI Mission’ would support SMEs to access expertise in Artificial Intelligence. AI is already changing business, but there is a risk that small businesses are left behind. An AI leadership training course, modelled on the UK government’s existing Help to Grow: Management Course, developed by leading business schools and in partnership with industry, would aim to create small business AI champions across the country.
This programme would give small businesses access to new skills and tools, while also creating a vital network of AI leaders in SMEs who can share their learnings and experience. The programme could ensure the UK keeps pace with AI developments, while accelerating the growth of small firms.
The final big idea is the creation of a National Employability Programme. High potential small businesses routinely tell us that accessing the skills they need to grow is their biggest challenge. They need more than just bright, educated young people – they need talent that understands enterprise and has an entrepreneurial attitude.
When business leaders are given a voice in the policy conversation, they can think on their feet and consider not only their own needs, but those of the economy as a whole
The National Employability Programme, developed in partnership with government and SMEs, could embed enterprise into the education system. Working to meet young people where they are by not only instilling entrepreneurship into the curriculum but by integrating it into other prominent initiatives, such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award. This would foster an enterprise-ready talent pool, equipped with the skills that employers truly need.
These ideas are just a snapshot of the creative solutions that one small group of business leaders came up with together. When they are given a voice in the policy conversation, they can think on their feet and consider not only their own needs, but those of the economy as a whole.
We are pleased that the government has been willing to listen. Now, it is time to act. Small businesses are not just the backbone of the economy; they are a driver of innovation and job creation. If we are going to achieve the economic growth we need, then it is the insights and creativity of the people who are at the frontline – entrepreneurs, founders and small business leaders – who can lead us there.
Charlotte Keenan is head of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses in the UK, a programme which provides entrepreneurs with access to education and business support to create jobs and economic opportunity. Except where otherwise indicated, information and statistics in this article are drawn from a report linked here.