Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the heartbeat of the UK economy. They make up 99% of all UK businesses, with a combined annual turnover of £1.8 trillion. SMEs employ around 16 million people in the UK, accounting for 60% of all private sector employment. Surely, isn’t it about time, then, that we gave them the support they deserve so that small business owners can realise their ambitions?

In the current environment, SMEs – businesses with fewer than 250 employees – are missing out. While the number of people who have created businesses over the last decade has grown exponentially, the economy is not evolving with it.

When owners want to move their business forward, they have limited options in order to make it happen. They need to be able to call on the support and experience of individuals who have been there, done that as far as growing a business is concerned, but find themselves having to give away a substantial slice of their company to get that top-level support.

It’s very different for larger enterprises, of course, who can on-board the necessary expertise to take them in the direction they wish to go in.

SMEs should be entitled to enterprise-level support, too, but with a personal touch, whereby the business owner’s individual propensity for growth is dovetailed with the organisation’s.

What is enterprise-level support?

Enterprises can expect support that is very high touch and extremely high quality, with access to highly qualified consultants who have worked in many different organisations. That’s because there’s an entire industry built around supporting big enterprises. However, it is an industry designed to support an organisation, not an individual.

The industry is not action-orientated, so would leave small business owners with a list problems and few solutions. The big management consultants are very good at understanding the market and the vision, then producing reports that spell out where progress can be made. But they tend to walk away before implementation.

SMEs need access to experienced, high quality personnel who operate according to the best-in-class measures and standards, but they also need them to be action-orientated and for them to offer guidance on how to move forward.

Why does it matter?

The relationships that small business owners will have with external support tend to be based around a specific need, i.e. they have reached out to an accountant to help them with their tax returns or they have sought out a solicitor for contractual help. However, these people don’t tend to advise owners on whole-business matters.

Small business owners are left wanting on somebody who can look at their entire business – not just the numbers, but the people – and who can offer practical advice for future growth.

While the government is keen to promote entrepreneurship, the SME support economy is not keeping pace. You can’t solve today’s problems with yesterday’s solutions.

What’s needed going forward is a SME support model that has been thought about in the context of the business owner – going from the inside out, rather than the outside in. Owners need access to experienced personnel who can deliver a strategic plan from a personal perspective, then align that with the business goals, so the two come together – in the SME space rarely can you separate the business and the individual behind it; they’re two sides of the same coin.

As much as anything else, it’s about rewarding entrepreneurs and allowing them to fulfil their potential as business owners. We aren’t really taught how to be a business owner at school, so we can only learn from those who have come before.

There’s also a real economic benefit that can be derived from helping the SME sector develop. The key to it all could lie in developing a sense of community within the SME world, whereby leaders celebrate their success by helping others follow in their footsteps. This will give owners a platform to grow, from both a business perspective and a personal one.

Where SMEs are at an advantage

Historically, it’s been difficult for SMEs to break into the market. However, the latest technology is allowing challenger businesses to evolve very quickly, which has made the market very flexible with plenty of opportunities.

SMEs are at an advantage as they have a natural agility – something that larger enterprises are having to work hard at to achieve. By developing their agility model early, SMEs are able to scale and grow utilising that adaptability.

However, SMEs can only start to compete and challenge if they have access to a vision and a strategic plan, allowing them to scale and grow more quickly. Then they will know where they’re going, when to engage with investors, and begin to build their people talent and culture.

Why is Agnentis Partners working with SMEs?

SMEs are the future of this country. Therefore, they deserve top-level support to be successful – whether it comes from each other or from experts like us.

We don’t say this lightly: we need to be more like the US where there’s more of a history of creating large companies. We need to find our own version of that entrepreneurial success culture. We believe it’s as much about helping business owners grow personally as it is providing them with the tools to succeed.

With both personal and professional support, it is possible for business owners to achieve much more than they are currently; possibly much more than they ever imagined. When we can bring out the best in people and their businesses, it gives us great satisfaction.