APPG for Entrepreneurship – February 2019 Digest

For centuries humans have looked to January as a source of renewal and, for entrepreneurs, 2019 began on an upbeat note: research from eBay found that over three-quarters of British entrepreneurs between 18 and 34 felt positive about their chance of growing their business in 2019; figures from the Booksellers Association showed that the number of independent bookstores on our high streets grew for the second year running in 2018; and a KPMG Enterprise study revealed that, over the course of 2018, 31.5 per cent (or $7.7bn) of VC investment in Europe went to UK startups.
 
This is only part of the picture, however. On Monday, a report from the British Business Bankshowed that female startup founders are missing out on billions of pounds of investment. Just 11 per cent of firms with at least one female founder received investment, and those with an all-female leadership team received just 1p in every pound. Ensuring female entrepreneurs get the finance to scale is fundamental – to both the economy and our society.
 
Also, a report from The Entrepreneurs Network and Association of Business Executives, launched in the Houses of Parliament with Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Kelly Tolhurst MP, found that while the rate of business startup creation is cause for celebration, downstream as many as 56 per cent of these new firms collapse within five years. “Too often viable companies fail due to bad management even when the fundamental idea behind the business is sound,” author Sam Dumitriu writes. He recommends practical reforms to ensure businesses are better managed, thereby creating more jobs, paying higher wages and selling better products.

Read the whole Digest – including entrepreneurship mentions in Parliament and relevant forthcoming events – here. Sign up here.