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Election 2015: North East businesses talk entrepreneurship, education & the EU

Here at Bdaily we’re continuing to ask North East businesses about what they want and expect from the forthcoming general election.

This week we look at what the region has to say about entrepreneurship, education and the EU.

Entrepreneurship:

Bradley Groves, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Great Annual Savings, said:

“As a successful and fast growing business based in the North East, I would like to see ease of access to further funding channels for start-up and SME businesses, so that they can invest and grow. The spirit of entrepreneurialism in the North East is a crucial part of its future success.”

Nigel Mills, Chairman of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum, said:

“I would urge the new Government, on behalf of our members and the wider community of not only the North East, but the whole of Britain, to make a firm commitment to maintaining or increasing Government mechanisms to support entrepreneurs.

“Entrepreneurial businesses are the catalyst for growth, despite the challenges thrown at them. Encouragement of high net worth individuals to invest in entrepreneurial businesses through the existing SEIS and EIS allowances should be maintained.

“The majority of new net jobs in the world are created by businesses under five years old and sales growth in these entrepreneurial businesses is up to ten times higher than the national average.

“The availability of cash for equity and working capital is key to enabling these entrepreneurial businesses to start and to grow and a large part if this investment comes from high net worth individuals. These investors often use these allowances to fuel the growth of these entrepreneurial businesses.

“The next Government can send a positive message to would-be investors and entrepreneurs that Britain backs entrepreneurship, jobs, and wealth creation for the benefit of all, by committing to the preservation of, or increases in, such allowances.”

Kieron Goldsborough, Managing Director of Press Ahead, said:

“The North East has seen a successful growth of entrepreneurial businesses over the last few years which have made a crucial contribution to the start of the economic recovery in the North East.

“To further grow and develop these businesses, the banks and other financial institutions need to be encouraged to take a sensible and pragmatic approach and enable access to funding and provide support so that businesses can continue to grow and develop.”

Education

Darren Hankey, Principal at Hartlepool College of Further Education, said:

“The funding situation for post-16 education has been cataclysmic. We are funded in different ways to schools, but the whole funding system across all levels of education is not equitable. It has been cut after cut after cut. It’s the same with adult education, the system needs to be looked at as a matter of urgency.”

Hartlepool College of Further Education is one of the largest providers of apprenticeships in the region and the seventh best in England in terms of success rates, and despite the cuts has managed to maintain its status as the town’s leading learning centre in recent years.

But Mr Hankey has called on whichever Government gets into power to look at the system as a matter of urgency.

He added: “Whatever happens on May 7, I would hope that there is a once in a lifetime review of the whole system and the way funds are distributed because things cannot continue the way they have.”

Warren Portues, Co-owner of Stockton-based North Eastern 4x4, said:

“I would like to see a government which puts greater emphasis on encouraging apprenticeships and creating opportunities for young people to enter a trade. Inspiring aspiration in the younger generation cannot be taken too lightly and should not just mean encouraging individuals to undertake a degree.

“North Eastern 4x4 regularly employs apprentices and opens doors for young people who would like to work in the motoring sector, which often leads to a permanent job in the business and increased opportunities for young people looking to kick-start a successful career.”

Andrew Nicholson, Managing Director of Newton Aycliffe-based Nicholson Consultancy, said:

“There needs to be a change of emphasis from spending money to wealth generation with the future prosperity of UK plc resting on the private sector. This includes the financial services industry, which, in spite of the present ‘banker bashing’ culture, has a vital part to play in the country’s economic success. Greater importance should to be placed on ensuring that students are more work-ready when they leave education with life and employability skills becoming a core part of the curriculum.”

The EU

Tom Riley, Managing Director of WhiteWash Laboratories, said:

“I would like to see much more emphasis on support for businesses which sell their products to overseas markets. Recent figures have shown that the export of goods has fallen to its lowest since September 2010; a slump which the government needs to address.

“WhiteWash Laboratories is a small business, based in the North East, which exports to more than 25 countries around the globe, which amounts to a significant proportion of our business. A government which encourages and backs businesses that export, making it more feasible, would be extremely beneficial for future growth of the economy.”

Dominic Tarn, Managing Director of House of Content, said:

“A straight in/out vote on Europe would be a disaster for this country, should the Conservatives win the next election and their Euro-skeptic base frighten the electorate into voting against our membership in the EU.

“Business leaders are against a messy divorce from our largest trading partner (responsible for 14% of our countries GDP). Eighty (80%) percent of CBI members (including 77% of SME’s) would vote to stay. Not only that, but without EU money, from the European Investment Bank and the European Regional Development Fund (EDRF), this region would suffer. Our businesses would suffer. Startups would lose one of their main sources of funding.

“Take Europe away and where would the money come from? That isn’t a hypothetical question. Give the region another five, ten years, then maybe we will have had enough exits to have sufficient investors who can support our startup ecosystem; but not today. A question the business community should be asking is, where would the money come from without Europe, and why isn’t this an issue in the election?”

Got an opinion? Why not have your say? Contact Jamie at jamie.hardesty@bdaily.co.uk to feature in our final two installments before May 7.

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