• The UK doesn’t have as many OMBs as it should have
  
  
• Many of the OMBs that we do have are underperforming
  
  
• Many of them are also damaging the health and happiness of their owners and families
  
  
• And as a result our entire society and economy is suffering, and things need to change

The UK doesn’t have as many OMBs as it should have
We need more OMBs because, as the UK government’s January 2004 “Action plan for small business” says, “rates of entrepreneurial activity in the UK remain only moderate by international standards, with the UK mid ranked out of 37 countries assessed.”

In fact, only 5.4% of the UK’s working age adults are engaged in starting or running a young business – compared to 10.5% in the US.

Many OMBs are underperforming
The evidence that OMBs are underperforming is even more compelling. For example, reports from the government’s Small Business Service state that:

• “The UK still faces a persistent productivity gap of at least 20 per cent with its major competitors”, and
  
  
• Self employed businesses in the UK create an average of only 0.7 jobs each – compared to an average of 1.0 jobs created by the self employed in Europe

Feedback from accountants working closely with OMBs also suggests that in many cases the sales, profits and wealth created by OMBs are all well below what they could and should be - and also well below what their owners want them to be.

Damaging health, happiness, society and the economy
The most important challenge facing OMBs is the fact that they are adversely affecting the health and happiness of their owners and their families.

NB: With over 3 million OMBs, and an average UK household size of 2.4 people, the total number of people adversely affected in this way is almost certainly over 7 million ie 12% of the entire UK population.

At a personal level the consequences can include long hours, exhaustion, stress, worry, high blood pressure, strokes, heart attacks, nervous breakdowns, children who barely see their parents, and even marriage break-ups.

And, at an economic level, the consequences include more business failures, lower productivity, missed opportunities, uncompetitiveness, lower wages, fewer jobs, lower growth rates, lower tax yields and bigger Budget and balance of payment deficits.

The government’s stated aim is “To make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a business”. And the government is doing many worthwhile things to make that happen.

But they will not succeed without help from the private sector.

So the National Campaign has been designed to provide that help. Click here to see how.