StartUp Britain is a response from the private sector to the Government’s call for an ‘enterprise-led’ recovery. It will deliver the very best in support and advice for startup companies, led by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs.
The campaign will be a champion for the UK’s 270,000 businesses that start up every year aiming to help drive growth by accelerating, inspiring and celebrating Britain’s start-up talent.
It is fully supported by Prime Minister David Cameron and the Government and has so far gathered the backing of significant international brands including Barclays, BlackBerry, Experian, Intel, Microsoft, McKinsey & Co. and Virgin Media.
Pledges to date include services and benefits comprising advertising and marketing, office space, broadband, finance and mentoring support for start-up companies.
In total, is is said that, Startup Britain will deliver a benefit package that represents over £1500 in value for every start-up company in Britain.
The face of the StartUp Britain campaign is a unique web portal which will point the way to some of the best resources available for business owners. It will be the first ever portal to bring together in one place the wide range of existing resources and will enable new businesses to access the package of support pledged to StartUp Britain from international brands.
The Prime Minister David Cameron said: “We won’t build the future we want to see in this country if we go back to the bad old days of big government spending, big borrowing and big debt. The recovery we need is a private sector-led recovery, a recovery with ‘Made in Britain’ stamped all over it.
“We need to see a country where new businesses are starting up on every street, in every town; where entrepreneurs are everywhere.
“We put out a call to business to rise up and help us drive the recovery and StartUp Britain is part of the answer to that call. That’s what’s really exciting about this. The people best placed to help business are the people who do business.”
Oli Barrett, a founding member of StartUp Britain, said: “StartUp Britain is simple and powerful. It aims to be the biggest ever drive from the private sector to contribute to a robust economic recovery – an ‘enterprise-led recovery’, by business, for business.
Startup Britain has been supported by the Business Finance Taskforce and the British Bankers’ Association.
Company currently making pledges to Startup Britain include:
- AXA will offer 10% off business insurance
- BlackBerry will offer 1,000 free Start Up Guides
- Microsoft will train 5,000 start-ups in how to use technology to drive their business and marketing activities, including free technology resources worth up to £400 per company
- Google will support start ups, initially by providing them with a limited amount of free advertising
- Regus will offer one month free businessworld membership
- O2 to offer one months free line rental
- PayPal will offer three months free fees for new accounts when signing up to a Powa.com website
- Fujitsu offers a 30-day free trial and/or 10% off the annual costs of IT storage/processing requirements via its online “Cloud” service
- McKinsey & Co will join with leading employers to launch Entrepreneur First to encourage our most innovative graduates to start up their own business
- YouGov and UCL, working with StartUp Britain and in collaboration with Imperial College London will lead the development of a pilot Start-up Summer to stimulate, encourage and support student entrepreneurs.
Startup Britain is now seeking additional pledges from the private sector, and is asking British businesses visit www.StartUpBritain.org to find out more about how to pledge support to the campaign.
