Last Updated on: 22nd November 2023, 02:11 pm
One of the UK’s most inspirational entrepreneurs has called for more support for small businesses to help with the economic recovery.
Sara Giles, founder of Newport Pet Services, believes too much focus has been put on supporting larger businesses, meaning smaller ones are missing out.
Sara founded her business in 2018 and earned the title of one of the UK’s most inspirational and dynamic female entrepreneurs by f:Entrepreneur ‘ialso 100’ campaign earlier this year.
She said: “The economic recovery needs to focus on small businesses. I’ve got first-hand experience of this.
“If every small business shut up shop tomorrow the economy would collapse.
“There’s a lot more of us than there are of big businesses, but the problem is there is a massive focus on big businesses and encouraging them to invest.
“You could probably create more jobs and have greater investment if you looked at the smaller business community.
“Give us more funding, help and direction so we can invest in high streets which need shops filling and provide more jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities.
“I think there needs to be groundfloor investment, not loans because you have got to pay it back and if your business isn’t doing as well as you would like you’re stuck and liable for any debts.
“There should be funding opportunities for someone with a good idea to get it off the ground.
“There seems to be funding available for things like renewable energy and making things green, but this is not much use if you are not in that particular industry.”
Sara was speaking to Shropshire’s premium business podcast The Graveyard Shift. She touched on many subjects during the podcast including starting her career in the police force, receiving her entrepreneur accolade, and the rise of irresponsible dog owners as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The boom in dog ownership skyrocketed and consequently dog thefts went through the roof as well.
“We’ve ended up with a plethora of just random puppies in random homes. It’s a worry,” Sara added.
Sara can be heard in full on The Graveyard Shift podcast, which is out now.
The podcast was launched by Shropshire PR and creative agency ROUS+ to shine a light on businesses and individuals in and around Shropshire who are innovators and leaders in their field.
The podcast can be found on the company’s new Shropshire PR website at www.shropshirepr.co.uk as well as its social media channels and on all regular podcast providers.
