smallbusiness.co.uk: Helping your business think big

It seems that almost nine in ten small businesses are oblivious to the £95 million provision of Regional Growth Fund (RGF) grant money earmarked to help enterprises grow.

According to a poll on SmallBusiness.co.uk of 167 company owners asking ‘Have you looked into RGF assistance?’, a massive 88 per cent clicked the option ‘What is RGF assistance?’.

I must say, I can’t blame them. As a journalist, I had to probe a string of press officers about a confusing media release that didn’t make it at all clear as to the conditions of the grant money, which is purported to create at least 4,000 jobs and unlock around £500 million of new investment by SMEs.

It was only after badgering the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills for a while that I finally got the all-too-critical information they had glossed over in the original message – that grants of up to £500,000 will be awarded only alongside the award of a new bank loan on commercial terms, helping solely those businesses which could have secured a loan anyway.

In the event, it turned out that the grim truth was hidden behind trademark government window-dressing. But the fact that most small companies didn’t even know about the initiative in the first place really does raise questions about the government’s ability to engage with the businesses that are so often referred to as the ‘engine room of the economy’.

The government does seem to be keen on creating the illusion that they are making palpable contributions to the development of small businesses in the build-up to today's Autumn Statement. The recent announcement from Nick Clegg that subsidies will be provided to help companies take on young workers initially looked good  too, but it fails to stand up to scrutiny when you consider the aim. Some 400,000 new posts are intended to be created out of little more than thin air, and what amounts to a £2,275 bribe per company is surely not enough to persuade pinched businesses, many of which have been downsizing, to employ – not to mention the cost of the bureaucracy set up to administer the scheme.

Following the news of the RGF scheme, prime minister David Cameron said, ‘We need this to be a country where more people think ‘I can start my own business and I can sell to the world.' So far, it looks very much like such confidence in would-be entrepreneurs is yet to be instilled.

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