SMEs BY BOB PAPWORTH


SCALE TO FIT


THE CHALLENGES OF SME TRAVEL PROGRAMMES REQUIRE A DIFFERENT APPROACH


ESTABLISHED IN 1974, THE UK’S FEDERATION OF SMALL BUSINESSES (FSB) has around 200,000 members across 33 regions and 188 branches. Last year, the organisation calculates, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) employed more than 15 million people and had a combined turnover of £1.6 trillion.


Out of the five million businesses in the UK, employing 25 million people, and with a combined turnover of more than £3.5 trillion, small firms alone accounted for 99.3 per cent of all private sector businesses, 48 per cent of private sector employment and 33 per cent of private sector turnover. So it comes as something of a surprise to learn that corporate travel savings seem to have passed them by. “Unfortunately, we do not currently have any travel-related member benefits and it’s not an active area of work for us,” says the FSB’s senior press officer, Jack Neill-Hall. Of course, it’s not Jack’s job to negotiate deals for his organisation’s members, but one cannot help but feel that someone is missing a trick here. More than one-third of all SMEs are involved in the wholesale and retail sectors; 18 per cent work in the construction industry; and a further 15 per cent are involved in the professional, scientific and technical sectors. Of course, not all those 15 million employees will be travellers.


Your average shop-keeper or bricklayer probably isn’t beating a path to the local airport to ply their trade in far-flung places.


BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM BBT JULY/AUGUST 2015 51


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