APPG for Entrepreneurship Digest: October 2020

In the past few months since we last sent out an update, the APPG for Entrepreneurship has hosted multiple events covering a range of topics from ethnic diversity in entrepreneurship to the future of funding. We even helped launch a book on entrepreneurship.

On September 9th, APPG Vice-Chair Lord Leigh discussed the future of funding, floating and selling your business with Mishcon De Reya’s Kevin McCarthy. It was a great opportunity for businesses, policymakers and parliamentarians to learn about the options available for entrepreneurs. The discussion covered everything from the impact of Covid-19 on mergers and acquisitions to whether entrepreneurs should prefer debt or equity. Lord Leigh is a great example of the expertise the APPG for Entrepreneurship can draw from, having himself founded Cavendish Corporate Finance (now part of FinnCap), one of the UK’s leading mid-market M&A advisers. You can watch it here.

Lord Leigh also joined his colleague Viscount Ridley to launch Dr Eamonn Butler’s new book An Introduction to Entrepreneurship on October 21st where they discussed the role entrepreneurship plays in boosting innovation, progress, productivity and growth – and why is this often overlooked in economics textbooks?

Finally, this week in partnership with Natwest we hosted the Exchequer Secretary and Minister for Equalities Kemi Badenoch MP to discuss how to support ethnic diversity in entrepreneurship. She heard from entrepreneurs such as Melanie Eusebe, founder of The Black British Business Awards, and The Black Farmer Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones on what they think needs to be done. We also heard from academic Professor Monder Ram OBE of the Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME).

If you are an MP or Peer interested in the issue of female entrepreneurship or business resilience then The Entrepreneurs Network (who are the APPG's secretariat) in partnership with Barclays would like to invite you to speak at an upcoming event on November 5th. You can find out details here.

On a similar note, parliamentarians may also be interested in the latest report from the Female Founders Forum (a project by The Entrepreneurs Network and Barclays) to champion female entrepreneurship. The report looks at how equity-backed female-led startups responded to the covid-19 crisis. You can read it here.

From our Advisory Board

Our advisory board keeps us up-to-date with the latest initiatives to support entrepreneurship in the UK. The CBI’s Naomi Weir draws attention to the CBI’s free biweekly webinar series CBI@10. The next one is on 9 November at 10am and you can book to attend here. She also notes that the CBI’s annual conference is next week from Nov 2nd to 4th and that there are events available for non-members. You can find the full programme of events here.

Simon McVicker highlights a recent McKinsey Poll of European SMEs that showed that 1 in 5 are concerned about meeting payment obligations and retaining employees. He also notes a report from King’s Business School which interviewed more than 350 entrepreneurs at the height of the first coronavirus lockdown to map and evaluate the impact on their business and on them personally. Nearly two thirds (61%) reported that the future existence of their business was under threat due to a slump in trade. Researchers said this suggested that there are potentially 16.6 million UK jobs at risk.

Erike Brodnock and the team at Extend Ventures are finalising the Diversity Beyond Gender report, which offers a state of the nation on diverse investments over the last 10 years. It should be out in the next week or so, so keep your eyes peeled.

Dr Christopher Haley of Nesta notes that Global Entrepreneurship Week is fast approaching (16-22 November). The GEN-UK team are keen to hear about any events which people may be organising, and are also looking for more speakers and chairs. Please drop a line to the GEN team at hello@genuk.org if you're interested.

In Parliament

In a debate on Social Care Workers in the Lords, Lord Crisp (Crossbench) championed the Tribe Project, an initiative “set up by a successful digital entrepreneur and [which] is now being used by six local authorities to predict the needs for care, match people with carers, and, very importantly in this context, support professional carers in setting up independently as microenterprises.”

In the Commons, Antony Higginbotham (Burnley) (Con) noted “Hundreds of millions of pounds have gone into Lancashire to support our businesses and our people. In the past week alone, £42 million has gone into the county to support businesses and people. That will support the landlord and landlady of the village pub and the entrepreneur who started their new business only a matter of weeks ago.”

In a Westminster Hall debate on the Jet Zero Council, Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con) highlighted that “huge work is going on between Electroflight—an ​entrepreneur and innovator-led company—and Rolls-Royce, to create the world’s first electric aviation engine”.

In the Commons Chamber, Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion) (Green) noted gaps in support for freelancers and the self-employed. She said “It is not good enough for my Brighton constituent who was working full time with the BBC as a PAYE freelancer, so he is ineligible for either furlough or self-employment support”.

In the same debate Richard Fuller (North East Bedfordshire) (Con) said: “It is important that the Government get to grips with the issue of those who feel that they have been excluded, because the self-employed provide so much for our economy. They are the innovators. They are the people who will undercut competitor prices to deliver a better product.”