The small business sector is crucial to EU growth, according to Helena Walsh, the Brussels regional director for Cicero Consulting.
Ms Walsh said EU member states are looking to small businesses to help their respective economies grow out of the recession. She went on to stress that it is important to have venture capital available for small businesses but at the moment finance support indicators for this form of funding are very poor.
Small businesses continue to struggle as the banks have tightened up their lending criteria and fewer grants up for grabs. Walsh has now urged the respective EU governments to pass urgent reforms to increase small business lending. She did however warn business owners that they were unlikely to see any reforms in the near future.
Earlier this year, the UK government and the major banks agreed SME lending targets through Project Merlin, but the first quarter targets were not met.
Cicero Brussels recently launched a Green Paper entitled ‘Access to venture capital for SMEs’. The paper deals with issues such as allowing venture capital funds to operate across EU borders and reducing the burden of administration on fund managers.
In the UK it’s not only lack of finance that is holding SMEs back. A recent survey from the FSB found that a lot of small business owners say excessive red tape is their biggest obstacle to growth.
Everybody agrees that small business growth is vital to the economic recovery, so when will governments throughout the EU takes steps to ensure that they get the necessary finance to enable them to do so?
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