SME growth and confidence boosted by business programme, report shows

The Building Small Business Britain report has found that an initiative set up by finance company Goldman Sachs has had a positive impact on the growth of small businesses in the UK.

The report assessed 933 companies that graduated from the 10,000 Small Businesses UK programme in 2010 – 2015 to see how the initiative impacted their growth.

Increase

According to the report, businesses that participated in the programme were twice as likely to increase their turnover than other UK businesses, with an average growth rate of 81 per cent per year.

They were also three times more likely to create more jobs: participants report a higher employment growth of 31 per cent per year on average and job creation 17 per cent higher than expected.

In addition, over 70 per cent of these businesses sought external financing after graduating (four times higher than other small businesses in the UK) and 84 per cent now use financial data more when making decisions.

Confidence

The report also found that the programme helped to boost the confidence of small businesses, with 93 per cent of graduates feeling more confident about managing growth.

Over 75 per cent of participants increase the training opportunities that they provide to their staff after graduating, whilst 69 per cent are still developing new products and services three years after graduating from the programme.