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We asked big businesses to help with productivity

The bit you know. We’re on a mission to boost UK productivity by supporting SMEs with business improvements. All our content and programmes are designed to help you do what you do best: improve your practices, inspire your staff and innovate in your industry. We were set up by the government and we still get most of our funding from them.

The bit you might not know. In November 2019 we gathered leaders from the UK’s largest businesses in a room. We explained the productivity problem, shared our mission and we asked them to help. More than 20 of them said yes. Yes to taking on the productivity problem. Yes to helping us. And yes to helping you.

Have a look at the video we created to rally support

Corporates care about SMEs because they know that the health of the UK’s small and medium-sized business sector fuels the health of the whole economy. By helping to improve the productivity of smaller companies in the ecosystem, they’re helping national prosperity and security. As big as they are, they know their success depends on your success.

We got commitments from Accenture, Amazon, Aviva, BAE Systems, British Land, Cisco, Deloitte, EY, Grant Thornton, KPMG, GlaxoSmithKline, John Lewis Partnership, Landsec, Lloyds Banking Group, McKinsey & Co, Moneypenny, News UK, Rolls-Royce, Royal Bank of Scotland, Salesforce.com, Santander, Severn Trent and Siemens.

Their commitments include:

  • Sponsoring management and leadership programmes for SME leaders
  • Developing tools to boost adoption of technology
  • Putting forward senior executives as mentors for ambitious smaller businesses

Our CEO, Tony Danker, said: “We want every business in the country to put productivity and competitiveness top of the list for 2020, regardless of size. In your own firm, your supply chain, your customer base and your region. This is in our hands and it is the only way to get the economy firing on all cylinders.”

Our chairman, Sir Charlie Mayfield, said: “Productivity matters. No growth for over ten years means people are poorer and the UK is weaker, competitively, than we should be. We want to change that and we know it can be done. We’re stepping up, as businesses, to support a movement across the UK. With this support we will work with businesses, with sectors and in places right across the country to build a better decade.”

The video’s available here. You can also find out more about our corporate partners in this press release.

Read more about why we’re getting big businesses to help SMEs with productivity

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