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This month, The Business Magazine launches a new quarterly series, Southern Entrepreneurs, in association with UBS and EY
We profile eight entrepreneurs each quarter, and will carry interviews with leading business founders as part of this series in upcoming issues.
Our sponsors, UBS and EY, both offer services to entrepreneurs. EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services, while UBS is a global firm providing financial services to private, corporate and institutional clients.
The new series comes as an EY study shows UK entrepreneurs have seen their businesses grow considerably over the past year and are optimistic about their future.
EY’s data shows that 83% of entrepreneurs have increased their headcount with over a quarter (28%) of these businesses creating more than 50 new jobs. The EY survey also revealed that the vast majority of entrepreneurs (93%) expect their turnover to increase in the next three years. However, just 23% feel that they are able to attract the right talent, suggesting that there is a ticking bomb in their business plans for firm growth.
EY surveyed 226 entrepreneurs to assess how their firms have performed in recent years and whether they expect to grow in the future, as well as to gather their views on the factors that they feel can help or hinder growth. Nearly all of the entrepreneurs surveyed, across multiple sectors and regions of the UK, have well-established businesses; 73% of respondents have run their business for at least a decade.
Growth of entrepreneurial businesses
EY found that three quarters of entrepreneurial businesses (75%) have seen growth in their turnover in the past year with over half (57%) witnessing a turnover increase of more than 5%. Looking ahead, over the next three years, all of the entrepreneurs surveyed expect their business to grow further, with over half (56%) expecting annual growth of over 10%. This view was especially prevalent in the pharmaceutical industry, where all of the respondents expect growth of more than 10%.
Government assistance
When asked about the one thing the next government could do to make growing a business easier, over a quarter of entrepreneurs (29%) cited cutting red tape and a fifth (20%) cutting business taxes. In the South East and West of England over a third of businesses (35%) cited cutting red tape as the number one thing the next government could do to make growing a business easier. In contrast, a quarter of Scottish entrepreneurs opted for a cut in business taxes.
Skills shortage puts growth at risk
Despite the fact that UK entrepreneurs have firm plans to grow their businesses over the next year, the EY survey suggests that they may come up against a skills shortage. More than three quarters (77%) of entrepreneurs admitted that they struggle to attract the right talent with over half (54%) saying that this is down to a lack of the right skills and a fifth (20%) stating that this was due to wage costs being too high.
EY found that businesses in the South East and South West are having the most trouble attracting talent with 63% citing a lack of skills as the core reason. In London the war for talent becomes more difficult with more than a quarter (26%) of entrepreneurs responding that they are having trouble attracting talent due to wages being too high, closely followed by too much competition (22%).
• If you are entrepreneur who would like to be featured in our series, email David Murray at
david@elcot.co.uk
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – OCTOBER 2014
www.businessmag.co.uk Business THE M A GA ZINE TM
RN NTREPRENEURS
Entrepreneurs expect more growth to come
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