{"id":200156,"date":"2023-02-24T16:15:25","date_gmt":"2023-02-24T16:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dominiclevent.com\/blog\/?p=200156"},"modified":"2023-02-24T16:15:47","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T16:15:47","slug":"its-not-unicorns-driving-the-uk-economy-its-side-hustles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominiclevent.com\/blog\/its-not-unicorns-driving-the-uk-economy-its-side-hustles\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s not unicorns driving the UK economy; it\u2019s \u2018side hustles\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Professor Stefan Allesch-Taylor CBE FKC, looks at one fast growing but underreported \u2018small business\u2019 segment in the UK: the \u2018side hustle\u2019….<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

With the Budget looming, SMEs<\/a> are asking for meaningful support that reflects their huge contribution to UK GDP – estimated at around 52%. But while Government articulates the importance of our SME businesses it rarely matches this with measures to support them.<\/p>\n

There is one fast growing but underreported \u2018small business\u2019 segment in the UK that particularly needs its backing – the \u2018side hustle.\u2019<\/p>\n

On the rare occasions I have been invited to Government meetings to discuss entrepreneurship, and how to make the UK a more inviting place for it, one thing I am sure of is that no one in those meetings really knows what an entrepreneur is.<\/p>\n

They think they know; in that, they think the people that run the 44 \u2018unicorn\u2019 start-ups in the UK are entrepreneurs<\/a> \u2013 and they are. <\/p>\n

But they are not the only ones. Unicorns are start-ups that have $1bn plus valuations, but often with promises more than profits to justify the values. I am not knocking them; they have their role. Sadly though, Government never seems to get beyond the glamour of these invariably hugely loss-making mythical beasts in its enthusiasm for entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n