A network of volunteer mentors offering free business advice is
unlikely to prevent support for new enterprises from going into
freefall, a survey of SMEs and advisors has discovered.
The Government is hoping that its Big Society-style scheme -
mentorsme.co.uk - which involves seasoned business pros passing on
the benefit of their experience to both new start-ups and
established companies, will fill the gap left when public funding
for the Business Link network of advisors is withdrawn next
month.
However, the UK Business Barometer (UKBB) survey, run quarterly
by The University of Nottingham Institute for Enterprise and
Innovation (UNIEI) has uncovered scepticism around the prospects of
the new scheme and concerns for the future of enterprise support
more generally.
An overwhelming majority - three quarters of respondents - told
the survey they would be unlikely to call on the new scheme, with
just one-third saying they would consider giving up their time to
volunteer as a mentor.
One entrepreneur quizzed said: "I have always believed that
business advisers/mentors should have run successful businesses
themselves, so I generally support the mentoring scheme. However,
the Government is setting great store by the use of mentors and I'm
not clear how they propose to ensure the quality and reliability of
provision."
In addition, the fears expressed earlier this year by George
Derbyshire, the outgoing head of the National Federation of
Enterprise Agencies, about the future of business advice for SMEs
seemed to strike a chord with many respondents to its sister
survey, the UK Business Adviser Barometer (UKBAB). More than half
(53 per cent) agreed with his assessment that enterprise support
will "fall off a cliff" when state support for the Business Link
network ends at the end of November.
Somewhat unsurprisingly, business advisers agreed almost
unanimously (92 per cent) that face-to-face advice was too
important to forego at a time when the reforms would see much of
the support offered online.
The UK Business Barometer (UKBB) and the UK Business Adviser
Barometer (UKBAB) provide a snapshot of how small and medium-sized
businesses are coping with the current state of the economy and aim
to uncover the key issues affecting the small business market.
Operating over the web means that results can be rapidly generated
and the surveys have unique software that enables results to be
processed and posted on their respective websites immediately they
arrive.
The latest UKBB survey also posed questions to SMEs on their
projected staffing levels over the next six months, whether the use
of techniques employed in elite sports, such as target setting and
statistical analysis, can be applied to the management of a team
running a small business and whether they expect their business to
expand or decline over the coming months.
The business advisers were quizzed by the UKBAB on whether they
would like to see more competition being brought into the banking
sector following the recently published interim report on banking
reform by Sir John Vickers, Chairman of the Independent Commission
on Banking. They were also asked for their views on the prospects
for small business in the coming year and to what extent they had
seen an increase in collaboration between businesses in the same
industry among their clients in the previous six months.