EFG: ‘Don’t bother’
Sep 04 2009
The government’s Enterprise Guarantee (EFG) Scheme has come under a fresh round of criticism, with the vast majority of small businesses seeing ‘little point’ in applying for it.
Some 93 per sent are shunning the scheme designed to help them through the recession, according to business consultancy Clifton Asset Management (CAM).
Anthony Carty, director of CAM, says: ‘These figures back up the huge store of anecdotal evidence we constantly receive from business owners who report it is near-impossible for them to access finance from the banks, regardless of the EFG.’
Of the 1,000 SMEs surveyed, 28 per cent said they had not heard of the scheme. Adds Carty: ‘If this is supposed to be the government’s flagship idea for helping UK SMEs out of recession, then it is a damning statistic that more than one in four don’t even know what the EFG is.
‘This leaves you with the sense that maybe the government isn’t putting as much pressure on the banks to promote the scheme and lend cash as they would like us to believe.’
According to official figures, more than 4,000 businesses have been offered an EFG loan amounting to a total of £400 million.
Comment by Irene Martini
Monday 7th September 2009Another way to get support for you Small Business in the recession is to contact your local Enterprise Agency. In London many businesses are currently being supported by the 'Business Turnaround Advice' service, which is aimed at supporting SMEs that are negatively affected by the recession. It is much more straightforward and it is free.
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