Taking care of business – our SME panel event at B Works

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22/02/2019

On February 20th 2019, Yorkshire Bank hosted an event which unpacked the findings of our new research, The 2019 SME Agenda, created in partnership with Telegraph Spark, the commercial arm of The Telegraph, and YouGov.

The report surveyed over 1,000 UK SMEs across numerous sectors, to identify and investigate the key challenges facing businesses in areas including finance, technology, HR, Brexit and other political issues.

Top headlines from our research:

Brexit

• 39% of British SMEs say leaving the EU will make them worse off, but the same percentage said they will be unaffected – an encouraging finding in light of so much political strife.
• The manufacturing sector showed the highest level of concern about Brexit, with 47% believing they will be worse off after the UK exits the bloc on March 29.

Human Resources

• 41% of SMEs in Yorkshire and The Humber struggle to find new recruits, the highest of any region in the UK.
• Perhaps unsurprisingly, London-based businesses topped the list in terms of their ability to recruit the right staff, with 34%, in strict contrast to The Midlands and the East, with 17% each respectively.

Finance to grow

• Despite widespread concerns about access to finance for smaller British businesses, 73% of SMEs who took part in our study reported having sufficient or fairly sufficient access to the financing they need, an encouraging finding.

A deep dive into the research with our experts

The event, hosted in partnership with Telegraph Partners, Manchester Evening News and Global Radio, took place at B Works, our new SME and retail hub on Manchester’s Market Street, and brought together a panel of experts to talk through the hot topics for small businesses in the year ahead, including the shared difficulty of sourcing talent, the importance of skills training for young people, boosting the Northern Powerhouse, implementing new technologies and much more.

On the panel was Elizabeth Clark, CEO of tech firm Dream Agility, Liam Manton, co-founder of boutique gin brand Didsbury Gin, Graeme Sands, Business Banking Corporate and Mid-Market Director at Yorkshire Bank, Charmaine O’Connor, CEO of leading demolition firm PP O’Connor and Liam Halligan, Business Journalist at The Telegraph. The facilitator was the veteran broadcaster Nicholas Owen.

Read our latest research report

Follow this link to find out more about how the UK’s smaller businesses feel about Brexit, technology and much more:

What’s occupying British SMEs?

Re-watch the event

The event, which was livestreamed to audiences across social media, can be watched back at the link below:

SME Expert Panel Event

Watch the wrap-up video

We'll be holding plenty more events to help businesses grow at B Works throughout 2019 and beyond and we look forward to welcoming local SMEs from Manchester and the wider North West as we press ahead with our commitment to support their ambitions and goals.