What will help scaleups continue to grow?
20/11/2018 By Shiona Davies
A week ago, I attended the launch of the ScaleUp Institute’s 2018 annual report. Held at Canada House, an audience of private and public sector organisations that work with growing businesses heard about the challenges facing such companies and the steps being taken to support them.
Integral to proceedings were the results of the Institute’s annual survey of scaleup businesses, which was run by BVA BDRC. 514 took part in this year’s survey, with the findings suggesting that these businesses are more likely to be productive, innovative and trading internationally than their peers, as well as to see their growth journey continuing into the future. To help them achieve those ambitions, they are looking for support around several key areas, including:
- Access to talent: having the right people in place to grow and develop the business in future, in the UK or overseas
- Access to markets: in the UK and beyond as well as working (more) with Government and large corporates
- Building leadership capacity: local support through mentors and peers who have already grown a business, to help them develop leadership skills to take their business forward
Robert Jenrick MP, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, presenting at the Scaleup Institute's 2018 Annual Report
The annual report goes on to provide a detailed and comprehensive assessment of where scaleups are found, the support that is available to them and what the picture looks like at a local level. It is an important evidence base for future work in this area, and can be downloaded from the ScaleUp Institute website here:
