‘Challenges facing small business and top tips for resilience this winter’ – Business Festival Event

The BID’s Business Festival keynote event was a talk from guest speaker Liz Barclay, ‘Challenges facing small business and top tips for resilience this winter’. Liz is a BBC broadcaster and the Government’s Small Business Commissioner.

Liz said in the city of York things are looking relatively good – but business confidence has been hit in the wider region.

Her key points were:

-We need to think about the payment culture in the UK, revealing that she’s heard of one big business taking 1,000 days to pay a small suppliers.

-It’s more important than ever that businesses are paid faster.

-Late payments are a key challenge for 30% of Yorkshire businesses – and skill shortages are causing problems.

-Inflation for many businesses is 35% and small businesses are in survival mode.

“There isn’t enough respect for small businesses among policymakers, and I’m trying to change that.”

Liz Barclay

However, Liz also emphasised the positives – that there’s always opportunity and small businesses have the agility and the mindset to capitalise on the opportunity.

Andrew Lowson, Exec Director at the BID summed up the evening and reiterated the resilience of York businesses.