Member Article

New Business & IP Centres dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs open in Manchester and Birmingham Libraries

• Libraries in the two biggest cities outside London will undergo an exciting transformation this week, as they launch new Business & IP Centres dedicated to supporting local entrepreneurs to start, run and grow their own businesses
• Survey of more than 500 entrepreneurs who manage start-ups across the UK reveals that 73% believe that the business support currently on offer can be confusing and difficult to navigate, and over half (56%) feel that too much support is centred around London, with 57% saying that there is no one place in their local area to go to for advice
• Nine in ten (88%) entrepreneurs agree that in order to help more start-ups thrive and thus boost the UK economy, it is crucial that more support, training and guidance is available

It is recognised that the first few years of starting a business can be the most toughest for many entrepreneurs as they fight to survive and defend their corner of the market. This week as the Library of Birmingham and Manchester Central Library open up new Business & IP Centres designed to unlock the potential of local entrepreneurs, a survey by ComRes reveals that 70% of entrepreneurs who manage start-ups wished that they had more support in this critical period.

The new Centres in the Library of Birmingham and Manchester Central Library, based on the British Library’s own Business & IP Centre in London, will provide a dedicated space for both aspiring and established entrepreneurs in the area to access the libraries’ valuable collections, and to have face-to-face advice from experts.

The ComRes survey polled over 500 UK entrepreneurs who have started a business in the past 5 years, and the results suggest that these accessible local services are much needed, with two thirds (66%) saying they didn’t know who to go to for advice in the early years of their business. The majority of entrepreneurs polled (90%) also stressed the importance of trusted, impartial advice on developing their business, the absence of which was identified as a key challenge by a fifth (20%) of those polled.

Face to face support was also identified as a core priority for early stage entrepreneurs, with four in five (82%) saying that face-to-face tailored support was important, despite less than a fifth (15%) having benefitted from a one-to-one consultation in their first 1-5 years of business.

The Manchester and Birmingham Business & IP Centres have joined a growing network of Centres led by the British Library in London, who opened its own Business & IP Centre in 2006 and has successfully helped over 350,000 entrepreneurs.

The British Library’s vision is to create a National Network of Business & IP Centres across the UK offering a free, trusted and valuable service for the nation’s entrepreneurs, so that anyone starting or running a business has a central place to go, in their local area, for support, inspiration and information.

For more information please contact: sophie.mcivor@bl.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sophie McIvor .