Sunday 4 April 2010

SME owners invest


While the mighty continue to take their bonuses, small business owners in the UK have invested more than £16 billion of their own money into their companies over the last year to survive the recession, it has been reported. Research conducted by specialist insurer Hiscox indicates that 20 per cent of entrepreneurs used their own personal finance to support their business interests, while 34 per cent cut their salary to increase cashflow.

The average amount of money poured into a small business last year was £17,030, the company reported. Some 33 per cent of entrepreneurs increased their working hours by, on average, 12.5 hours a week, while ten per cent worked more than 50 hours as they sought to keep their businesses afloat.

Alan Thomas, small business expert at Hiscox, claimed that small and medium-sized business bosses have been "the unsung heroes of the recession, They have made enormous sacrifices and taken significant personal and financial risks to pull their businesses through the last two years. Their positive outlook for the year ahead is testament to the resilience of UK entrepreneurs and with 25 per cent planning to expand in 2010, they are doing their bit to help lead the UK's recovery."

Gareth, APA.

1 comment:

Tracy Carter FAPA said...

Gareth I hope you don't mind but I thought PA's (or their Director's/Finance Departments) might be interested in the revised Managing Cashflow Guides which have just been written by my CEO. The Guides are completely free to download and there are also some useful videos by Lord Alan Sugar - the link is http://www.creditmanagement.org.uk/bisguides.htm
I hope the Guides help all those hardworking SMEs.