Category: News

UK entrepreneurs are increasingly relying on older workers to plug skills shortages in their businesses, according to figures released today.

Nearly 40% of small business owners blame the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the increasing burden of red tape in the UK. A recent poll commissioned by online accounting software firm KashFlow has revealed the constraints and worries that increasing amounts of red tape has had on small businesses around the UK.
 
In the first ever Red Tape and Bureaucracy Awards the Chancellor of the Exchequer is today revealed to be the person that the majority of small business owners and accountants blame for increasing red tape in the UK.

Matthew Riley finished his first apprenticeship at the age of 18 and now 34 he’s doing it all again – his teacher, one of the most astute businessmen in the country, Sir Philip Green.
 
After winning one of the biggest prizes in business – the title of Bank of Scotland Corporate Entrepreneur of Year – the CEO of business communications provider daisy has now started to reap the rewards of his money-can’t-buy prize.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is in discussions with TV producers to star in his own reality show, reports say.

MP Hazel Blears was photographed carrying an email print-out detailing a show with the working title Junior PM to a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

The email from producer Margaret McCabe pitched the show, which would feature aspiring politicians as contestants, as being targeted for the "Apprentice meets Maria/Strictly Come Dancing audience".

The capital’s new Mayor set up a “forensic audit group” of leading business people and public figures that he said would end mismanagement and deliver better value for money for taxpayers.

The panel will be led by former Sunday Telegraph Editor Patience Wheatcroft who is currently a Non Executive Director of Barclays PLC and Shaftesbury PLC.

The group will look into claims of financial mismanagement and lack of control at the London Development Agency and the Greater London Authority.

SMEs responsible for 110 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year

AXA launches carbon calculator to help SMEs reduce emissions.

Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) generate approximately 110 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year, according to new calculations published today by AXA. In an effort to help small businesses reduce their environmental impact AXA, one of the UK’s leading insurers of SMEs, today launched a carbon footprint calculator available free at axa4business.co.uk/climate. Created specifically for SMEs it provides a self-assessment tool to enable them to assess and reduce their environmental impact.

Research by a leading social entrepreneur networking website has revealed that nearly 40% of small business owners and social entrepreneurs have experienced cash flow problems in the last few months as a result of the worsening economic situation.

Demonstrating that money cannot buy you everything, Richard Branson has topped a poll of business heroes as voted for by business owners themselves, beating the world’s third richest man, Bill Gates, into 2nd position.

The leaders of the UK’s major franchise companies gathered to reward excellence in marketing when the winners of the 2008 Franchise Marketing Awards were announced on Friday 4 April.
 
Over 400 figures from the UK’s highly successful £11 billion franchise industry enjoyed a glamorous gala dinner at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, London, to recognise the many companies whose investment in marketing and creativity have contributed significantly to the industry’s continuing growth and development. The winning entries highlighted the impressive quality and range of marketing in this vibrant industry sector.

A Gloucestershire based Public Relations Agency is the first in the UK to use the power of Facebook to help small to medium sized businesses increase their media awareness thanks to holding regular, free, real-time, Question and Answer sessions on the social networking site starting on April 29th.

According to a major new study, two out of every three SMEs are ignoring the current environmental debate.  With many larger companies making fundamental changes in how they do business, 67% of SME owner-managers admitted that environmental concerns were failing to have any impact on their company.

SMEs employ more than half of the UK workforce, so these small companies constitute a major segment of the UK’s business community. There is a huge opportunity for these companies to make a significant impact on environmental sustainability, but it seems few are taking up the challenge.

Small business complacency is harming future growth potential and increasing the chance of business failure across London according to information released today by Business Link in London.
With 29 out of 33 London boroughs experiencing a growth in the number of new businesses, only 67% of them are making it to their third birthday, whilst 91% are making it to their first.

A leading UK based accounting software company can today reveal that year on year; accountants are increasingly leaning towards the Conservatives, with nearly half of voters now backing the Tories, whilst Labour falls further behind.

The Forum of Private Business (FPB) is warning that freight transport firms, and businesses which provide their employees with company cars, are most at risk from prosecution under the Corporate Manslaughter Act, which comes into force on 6 April 2008.

New research carried out by the Small Business Research Trust (SBRT), in conjunction with the Forum of Private Business (FPB), shows that smaller firms are bearing the brunt of the credit crunch. The FPB believes that barriers to growth faced by small businesses, in particular the burden of tax, red tape and late payment, must be urgently addressed.