ENTREPRENEURS CAN’T CATCH IT ALL

Former Dragon Doug Richard warns the South’s business leaders of the need to free up entrepreneurship

Former star of BBC TV’s Dragon’s Den, Doug Richard, accused Prime Minister Gordon Brown of ‘just not getting the importance of entrepreneurs to the economy’ when he addressed the region’s top business leaders at the launch of BDO Stoy Hayward’s Central South Report (CSR) 2009, held at the Rose Bowl last night. Richard, who is an honorary recipient of the Queen's Award for enterprise promotion, and who invests in entrepreneurial technology businesses, said: “The tax system should incentivise start-ups and SMEs because it’s the smaller business owner who fills the country’s coffers. “Gordon Brown can’t see this simple fact because he’s just imposed the biggest disincentive to them that you could imagine, in the 50 per cent tax rate.” “In the UK, the state employs more people than Russia in its heyday” “50 per cent of British workers are employed by the state, which is more than Russia in its heyday. It’s hard to get your head around, isn’t it? Who pays their salaries and pensions? It’s, by and large, the small business owner. “But it’s not only the Government that’s the challenge, it’s the public sector and the large corporates too. Their purchasing institutions need to understand that a percentage of budgets must be spent with small businesses. They don’t, and they say they can’t.” Richard compared the UK’s approach with that in his native California. “Bigger corporates in California seek to buy from unknowns, because they know that’s where the new ideas will come from. Over here, the large corporates and the public sector behave as if it’s unsafe to buy from smaller organisations. Out there, if you start a company the whole business community gets behind you, not just with enthusiasm but also with physical and technical support.” The solution lies partly in the tax system, according to Richard. “In business, we encourage revenues but control costs, and government should do the same. There should be a flat tax with the EIS scheme expanded to give full tax relief for investing in SME’s.” In his conclusions, Richard, who sails regularly with his family on the Solent, criticised the UK for allowing programmes such as Dragon’s Den and the Apprentice to be “the only picture of entrepreneurship that the next generation is given”. He added: “There should be a serious focus on making us an entrepreneurial nation.” Over 100 of the South’s top business people were at the dinner to mark the publication of the 2009 Central South Report, the only set of aggregated accounts of the top 150 businesses across the South, owned and produced by BDO Stoy Hayward. Kim Hayward, Managing Partner of BDO Stoy Hayward in Southampton, said: “In his speech, Doug Richard highlighted the importance of entrepreneurs to both the national and regional economy. It’s a difficult climate for businesses at the moment and the key message of the CSR and the event is that the business climate will get better, the smarter businesses will seize the opportunities and BDO is there to help.” -Ends- Words: 480

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