The government says it wants to remove the barriers to business: an objective of the newly created LEPs ( Local Enterprise Partnerships ). Lubricating finance and the removal of red tape are tentative steps in the right direction. The Grand National in accessing the public sector is a race yet to be won.
What entrepreneurs do not want is to be deluged with advisors. We can work out things for ourselves as and when. Business Link made a life for itself offering consultations when they were not needed, and its replacement online helpdesk may be of equal marginal merit
To coin a phrase what “we really really want”, is visibility and access. We have forgotten that businesses thrive when there are markets. Trade fairs and exhibitions at the NEC, Olympia, Earl’s Court and the ICC come into this category. If business funding could be used to enable start-up firms to have access to these watering holes at subsidised rates, then any entrepreneur worthy of the name will make a success of the opportunity.