Entrepreneurship is important to the UK economy. There were 5.86 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at the start of 20192 , who provided employment to 16.6 million people (60 per cent of all private sector employment) and generated 52 per cent of the £2.2 trillion turnover generated by the UK private sector. These businesses, often entrepreneur led, are particularly vulnerable to crises, because they typically have fewer resources than large businesses. Yet job losses in SMEs often go unnoticed in the news as they are much less attention-catching than job losses in large businesses – even though in the aggregate job losses in SME are bound to be larger. Given the scale of the Covid-19 pandemic, understanding the experience of entrepreneurs in these difficult times as well as the outlook they have for what lies ahead in the short- and long-term are therefore critical to sustain, and potentially support, this vital part of the UK economy. This report draws on data that we collected from 361 UK entrepreneurs between May 6th and July 13th with the help of entrepreneur associations, chambers of commerce and by directly reaching out to SME owner-managers and the self-employed. The data collection period overlaps with the lockdown of the UK to contain the spread of the Coronavirus. The lockdown is still in place but has been gradually lifted over the last month (eg some schools reopened early June, some clothing retailers later that month while public houses re-opened in England on July 4th). The precise timings vary across the UK nations and many schools, universities and businesses remain closed at the time of writing
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Entrepreneurship and Covid-19: Challenges and opportunities
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