Initial results from a nationwide survey show that 68 per cent of the UK’s most dynamic entrepreneurs have cashflow concerns – up from 25 per cent before the COVID-19 crisis.
The survey by University of Edinburgh Business School analysed responses from 565 fast growing entrepreneurial businesses. These firms represent 6 per cent of all UK businesses but play an outsized role in the UK’s economic growth, providing 50 per cent of all new jobs and a high proportion of the country’s export and productivity growth.
Additional findings show that almost half of businesses surveyed have halted all strategic investment, 59 per cent are seeing a significant fall in business turnover and 51 per cent are experiencing supply chain issues.
A third felt the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention scheme is unlikely to benefit them and one in five think the relief measures do not go far enough.
This ongoing study is being led by Prof Francis Greene and Dr Alessandro Rosiello and aims to provide up-to-date information about the prospects of entrepreneurial firms in order to guide the government response to the COVID-19 crisis.
The government needs to start developing a long-term plan to support these firms after the lockdown ends when many will have little or no revenue
Prof Greene, Chair in Entrepreneurship, said: “COVID-19 has caused significant losses for over half of our most growth-orientated companies and stalled a substantial proportion of the investment these firms would have otherwise made in growing their business.
“These firms are the key growth engine of the economy and of the nation’s export trade. We will depend on their entrepreneurial dynamism to repair the UK economy after COVID-19. The government needs to start developing a long-term plan to support these firms after the lockdown ends when many will have little or no revenue.”
Further information about the survey and how to sign up is available here.