Region can improve ‘mechanics’ of entrepreneur support - experts
West Midlands entrepreneurs need to be plugged into the right support in order to thrive, experts at a Chamber event said.
Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce’s Quarterly Business Report launch for Q4 focused on supporting entrepreneurship in the region.
Delegates at Birmingham City University’s Curzon Building heard that while there is a willingness to support new businesses, better “signposting” is needed to help those who are beyond the start-up stage.
Jude Jennison, whose firm Leaders By Nature delivers leadership and team development programmes using her herd of horses, believes businesses who are looking to scale up often struggle to access the right support.
Jude, who previously managed large teams and budgets at tech giants IBM before founding Leaders By Nature, said: “What I find is there's usually quite a lot [of support] for start-ups.
“And there's a lot of associated with universities. So, if you're starting up it's relatively easy - particularly if you're starting a tech business, and there are lots of investors around.
“If you've got something that's more bricks and mortar – or in my case fields and horses - it's much harder to get support.
“So, everything that I've done has been word of mouth and by building my network in Birmingham.”
David Mellor, head of growth and incubation at BCU’s STEAMHouse, agreed that the “mechanics” could be improved to signpost firms.
He said BCU is ranked 10th nationally and first in the West Midlands for student start-up businesses.
And with many of those coming from the tech or creative sectors, David said it is important the support extends to other industries.
He said: “It’s one of the challenges that we're trying to address within BCU.
“As a broad ranging university, we get a lot of businesses that come from creative backgrounds.
“But we do have investment structures and we all those things that reflect a city of a thousand trades.
“And it isn't just about five or six trades. They are great and, yes, they are key, but we need to make sure that we're dealing with the other 900 sectors.”
In terms of the regional business support landscape, he added: “I do think we have a very clear sense that it is Team West Midlands.
“What we need to do is make sure that when we see an external organisation coming in, and they're clearly coming in from overseas, then we're very much in that signposting mode.
“I think fundamentally, there is a willingness to do that, everybody's heart is in the right place but we need to make the mechanics better, smoother and build those relationships.”
Attendees also head from the GBCC’s director of external affairs Raj Kandola, who provided an overview of the latest report which revealed businesses felt the impact of impending tax rises during Q4.
This led to a fall in recruitment activity and the significant increase in the number of companies expressing concerns over price pressures.
However, there were signs of resilience from the region’s businesses – with both domestic and export activity picking up towards the end of the year.
Read the Q4 Quarterly Business Report in full.
Pictured from left to right: Raj Kandola, Jude Jennison, GBCC CEO Henrietta Brealey, Professor Harris Beider, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Engagement, Enterprise and Innovation at Birmingham City University, and David Mellor
