UK entrepreneurship is alive and kicking, despite turbulent times
To better understand the impact of the recent political and economic uncertainty on UK companies, we studied the changes that our UK members made to their profiles between April and October 2016.
One of the most interesting findings is that the recent uncertainty may have forced companies to rethink how they do business - most notably cutting roles that don’t have a direct impact on their bottom line, and growing those that do.
Our data shows that, over the last six months alone, British businesses made cuts to non-core roles, with functions such as administration and support shrinking by 3.7% and 3.4% respectively. In contrast, commercially-focused functions have grown, with business development roles recording the biggest net year-on-year rises in headcount.
Tellingly it’s recently troubled industries, including retail, manufacturing and oil and energy, that have been leading the charge in prioritising revenue drivers over non-core functions.
Perhaps related to this, our analysis also shows that entrepreneurship is on the rise in the UK. Not only are more of our members describing themselves as entrepreneurs but we also found that the number of companies with fewer than ten employees has increased by 5% year-on-year - no mean feat, given the circumstances.
The data suggests that many businesses are going into the New Year in leaner shape, with a laser focus on the bottom line. For professionals affected by cuts, it’s also heartening to see that many have taken the initiative to strike out on their own, taking on consultancy and freelance roles.
Perhaps most encouraging is the news that the entrepreneurial spirit in the UK continues to thrive. Start-up culture spreads far beyond Old Street, and more and more British professionals are seeing themselves as the business leaders of the future. That bodes well for our competitiveness and our economic resilience - whatever surprises the world has for us in 2017.
Youth Worker chez Y-12 National Security Complex
7yHey i'm yaya from liberia. I'm housse painter i loocking for support to Opong my company
product designer & MD at GRIFEN sprinkler solutions
7yIt would be nice if the entrepreneurs have to make statements that offer guarantees of product efficacy and meet strict international standards that their advisers didn't rely so heavily on caveats suggesting their advice is just that and entirely at the users own risk. It's about time some bright people who left university started thinking about not joining the legal profession and actually became entrepreneurs themselves, Britain wasn't made great by lawyers
Founder and managing director, The Wordbox, the specialist food, drink and hospitality PR and marketing agency
7yyes, it takes a leap of faith sometimes and investors are often not prepared to take such risks. But after some success entrepreneurs often tend to surround themselves with trusted advisors ie accountants -lawyers - investors who they can rely on for support.
Transformative Technology Specialist
7yEntrepreneurs may be on the rise, although cynicism suggests that anyone recently downsized might change their title to 'Entrepreneur' or 'Consultant', but it is a crying shame that the 'investor' scene is still stuck in 2001!
Senior Amazon Account Manager
7yNice to see entrepreneurs thriving in a troubled environment, where many see adverse conditions there are always people that thrive!