Happy New Year!

While last year was incredible, 2022 is going to be busier than ever: more research, more webinars (and hopefully a fair number of in -person events), more meetings with politicians, more responses to consultations, and more policy impact. There has never been a better time to get involved.

We have our work cut out for us though. The gap between entrepreneurs and politicians still needs bridging. Duncan Robinson does a cracking job of explaining on reason why in an article for The Economist, arguing that British politics has a unique disdain for the country’s strengths.

For example, Robinson calls out Britain’s puritanical politicians, who seem to think the country’s thriving creative industries are not serious enough to merit praise: “They talk about Premier League football as if it were a mere den of iniquity, rather than Britain’s most potent cultural export. Videogaming is dismissed as a hobby rather than acknowledged as a national strength.”

Instead of kicking winners, we need politicians to prioritise entrepreneurship. Not for the sake of the entrepreneurs themselves, but for the economic growth they drive and the living standards they raise.

And we want to be a big part in solving this: by unabashedly making the case for an entrepreneurial society, by putting entrepreneurs in front of policy makers, and by backing this all up with hard research and smart ideas.

We’ll be doing this in lots of ways, but I’m particularly keen to share one just agreed with Enterprise Nation. Its founder, Emma Jones, has been on a mission to make Britain the most enterprising nation for years, and we’ll be partnering with them on reports looking at how small business owners can better access finance, people, markets and government.

As always, there will be ways you can get involved. Watch this space!

The Great
Many of the most successful entrepreneurs I’ve met have had a close relationship with a business school to help them scale.

This isn’t as common as it should be, but even less prevalent is entrepreneurs tapping into Further Education (FE) colleges – even though many businesses would clearly benefit from access to more bright young minds, as well as the resources of the colleges themselves.

That’s why we’ve teamed up with the educational charity Gatsby to look at how we can better bridge the gap. We’ll be hosting some virtual roundtables and are looking for entrepreneurs who want to learn more about how FE colleges can help their business or vice versa. Whether you’re totally new to this, or already have experience with FE colleges, just drop Anton an email to register your interest.

Saintly Patron
Again on the topic of partnerships, a particularly fruitful one has been with our Patron Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia. He is a serial entrepreneur and philanthropist who arrived in the UK in 1972 as a refugee, fleeing Idi Amin's regime.

Sukhpal founded Euro Car Parts in 1978 from a single site in Willesden, London, and grew the company into the largest distributor of car parts in Europe, operating from more than 300 sites across the UK and employing more than 12,000 people. It was acquired by Nasdaq-listed LKQ Corporation in a transaction valued at £280m.

Sukhpal has written an article reflecting on the Job Creators report he supported two years ago, which found that half of the fastest growing companies have at least on foreign-born founder: “I was delighted when the Chancellor quoted the report in the Autumn Budget last year. It is also satisfying to know that the report's recommendations have been adopted by the government. Since its publication, the Tier 1 Post-Study Work Visa has been reformed and now allows international students to work in the UK for up to two years after they graduate. This is a testament to the quality of the data in the report.”

Get in touch if there is a policy you’re keen to support in a similar way.