Written Submissions Received for the London Assembly's
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Written submissions received for the London Assembly’s Business Start-ups investigation June 2009 SB001 Croydon Business Venture Tade Adepoyibi Assistant Scrutiny Manager Secretariat (PPI 0) The London Assembly City Hall The Queens Walk London SE1 2AA Dear Tade, Croydon Business Venture Further to the E mail from Natalie Arthur please find enclosed information as requested. Croydon Business Venture provides support covering all areas of Business Start Up, including; Access to Finance, Business Advice and Managed Accommodation. We operate arguably the most successful business centre in Croydon and South London, supporting entrepreneurs with affordable business premises in two locations, with a third in the process of being built. Our innovative three day intensive business workshop receives candidates from across the UK. We have strong ties with other support organisations and I chair the Croydon Business Support Network. There is a duplication of Start Up support with many companies coming from outside the area to provide a short introduction seminar, claim the money and not continue the support needed to ensure success, because there is no money in it for them. CBV are unique that we do not drawdown monies to fund our Business support Programme, we fund it ourselves out of rental income and small amounts of sponsorship. All of our support is free of charge and we continue to help all companies whatever their status. If there was the opportunity to fund additional advisors at no cost to us we would be interested in discussing this. Yours sincerely, Chief Executive SB002 London Borough of Tower Hamlets Development & Renewal Directorate Mulberry Place (AH) PO Box 55739 London El4 IBY www.towerhamlets.gov.uk Tade Adepoyibi Scrutiny Team London Assembly Economic Development, Culture, Sport and Tourism Committee City Hall The Queen's Walk London SE1 2AA Dear Tade, Further to your enquiry I outline below the activities of the London Borough of Tower Ham!eis with regard to business start up. In Tower Hamlets we have a relatively high figure of business start ups, the latest information accessed (2006) indicates that Tower Hamlets experienced twice the number of new businesses created in that year than the figure for London. This equates to almost 1200 new businesses. Hence the Council has not taken specific steps to influence the business activity in the area. There are several local agencies, notably East London Small Business Centre, who offer a full start up service to residents wishing to start a business. This includes one to one discussion and mentoring, relevant training, access to loan funds and premises. The support continues for up to 5 years. There are several other third sector and not for profit agencies providing services for specific groups such as Ethnic Minority Enterprise Project, Spitalfields Small Business Association and Cultural Industries Development Agency and of course Business Link for London. The Council works in partnership with these agencies through its Enterprise Task Group, a sub group of the Local Strategic Partnership. A publication entitled 'Business Matters' is available on the Council SB002 website with hard copies available throughout the borough and this provides a comprehensive list of agencies that can assist with business start up and growth. An enterprise strategy is currently being drafted outlining the strategic and local context affecting the economy in respect of business support with priority objectives and an action plan to promote business growth. In view of the strength of the economy in the borough one of the priorities will be to consider enterprise activity in the context of reducing worklessness. To this end we are likely to continue our support for social enterprise and self-employment. In view of the substantial number of business start ups and the opportunities available within the borough for assistance on business start ups the Council has no plans to increase its support in the near future apart from the areas highlighted in the previous paragraph. Yours sincerely, Corporate Director, Development and Renewal SB003 Michelson Diagnostics Ltd Dear Tade, 1. What support, particularly in relation to access to finance, business advice and accommodation, should be provided to new businesses starting during the recession? a. Grants for R&D should continue to be made available or increased. Note that the recession is a good time to do R&D, because the selling opportunities are reduced, and therefore capital should be diverted to the research and development of innovative products that will be ready when the upturn comes. b. Training, rather than ‘business advice’ as such. I would like to see schemes such as ‘Growth2Investment’ supported with more funding, to help senior management of early stage companies position their companies for investment and for accessing other forms of finance. 2. What, if any, support did you receive when starting your business including any private or public sector support? How useful was this support? We received £116k Grant for R&D from LDA, also a £10k prize from NESTA in a business plan competition. The Grant for R&D was crucial to our early start-up stage. I was disappointed to hear that Gary Hellen and others at the LDA who ran the Grant for R&D competitions were recently made redundant. Does this mean the scheme is going to be scaled down or phased out? We used the grant to match £200k of friends & family and business angel funding. One point I would like to make is that the best way to make Grant for R&D effective is to run the ‘calls’ as competitions, and market these aggressively, so that you attract a lot of entries and can pick the best. Historically, a big problem with the old ‘SMART’ awards was that poor marketing resulted in poor quality entries and therefore a low successful outcome rate. 3. Are there any particular sectors of London’s economy where public bodies should focus any support to encourage business start-ups? Healthcare/life sciences. London has a high concentration of teaching hospitals and leading-edge medical research university departments. It is therefore a good place for a medical products start-ups. Hope this helps, Regards Chief Executive Officer Michelson Diagnostics Ltd SB004 SB005 Duplicate - See SB012 SB006 Wandsworth Youth Enterprise Centre Response to London Assemblv investigation into the support for business start-ups I. What support does your organisation offer to business start-ups in terms of access to finance, business advice & accommodation? Wandsworth Youth Enterprise Centre (WEC) provides enterprise support to young people under the age of 30. WEC provides a fully holistic incubation service, which encompasses a community outreach service, business training, seminars and courses, business counselling on a one to one basis, mentoringfbusiness community champions and subsidised business accommodation. WEC's business counsellirrg, training and incubation programme has supported over 5,000 young people and helped 700 successfully set up and develop their own business. Because the model provides life as well as business counselling and an additional two years of support after setting up a business, clients experience high business survival rates of 85 - 90%. Business Launchpad, WYEC's community outreach service, has increased Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) reach and participation in business start-up by 50% over a 3 year period. 2. What support for business start-ups do you think the Mayor and the LDA should provide? Access to finance Financial support needs to be easier to access and understood for young people. This age group may not fully understand finance and need to learn about it in a supportive environment. They need business behaviour support and personal development before they become self-employed. There needs to be accessible grants with business support added to it i.e. market research grant followed by small chunks of £1k pots of funding. Funding also needs to be attached to business training workshops and business support. Job Seekers Allowance should formally recognise the value of an individual seeking and accessing business start-up support.Support should also focus on multi-ethnic sectors which do not bank traditionally or seek finance from known sources i.e. Muslim banks and ethical and moral lending. Business advice WEC is unique in that we provide business counselling, addressing personal circumstances, age and social environment all of which car1 have an affect on setting up a business. There needs to be provision for holistic business advice. All too often prospective entrepreneurs can feel compelled to start up a business with a number of external and personal factors influencing their decision making, which will have a crucial impact on whether the business survives or not. The provision of business counselling, particularly within a business incubation setting is crucial to the survival rate of new businesses. Particularly for vulnerable groups i.e. ethnic minority groups, long term unemployed, NEETs and people with learning difficulties or low literacy and numeracy levels. SB006 Accommodation Accommodation and business advice should be intrinsic. Business incubation is an integrated, proven tool for the development and growth of sustainable businesses and innovation. Business incubation provides a nurturing, instructive and supportive environment for entrepreneurs during the critical stages of starting up a new business. The goal of business incubation is to increase the chance that a business will succeed, shorten the time and reduce the cost of establishing and growing a business. In addition these environments provide events, sign posting and networking opportunities. It's essential that the Mayor supports existing Centres and the development and growth of new ones, particularly those that are community focussed, targeting groups and individuals who would most benefit from the service. Incubators are potential 'anchors' for communities, securing valuable skills and knowledge that can help that community gain a competitive advantage.