Hull City council has launched a strategy, action plan and charter to support micro businesses in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis.
The global pandemic triggered a record number of start-ups, which is expected to break the one million mark.
Statistics show that more than 80 per cent of these new business owners can still be trading in three years with the right support, and 6 per cent of them will become the high growth employers which every city needs.
Read more:City’s comedic export leads cast list of inspiring individuals to back Hull’s young entrepreneurs
Building on Hull’s entrepreneurial spirit, the Micro Enterprise Charter aims to provide residents with the skills, confidence and opportunities to establish their own business. Using the principles of The Big 13, devised by Rotherham Ready – a regional development agency-funded enterprise initiative, residents will be supported to learn transferable skills such as team work, effective communication, problem solving and leadership, as well as entrepreneurial skills such as risk, negotiating and influencing, making ethical decisions, financial literacy and product and service.
The charter formalises a set of principles designed to bridge the gap between the ambitions of people capturing their latent creative and entrepreneurial talent and the support agencies established to enable that ambition.
Councillor Daren Hale, leader of Hull City Council, said: “While coronavirus has been catastrophic for many businesses who have been forced to shut down, many entrepreneurs decided it was the perfect time to start a new one.
“We have witnessed an incredible resilience as people who have lost their jobs have had to reskill and turn obstacles into opportunities. Some have taken the plunge out of necessity after losing their jobs whereas others have reassessed their priorities.
Councillor Daren Hale, leader of Hull City Council. (Image: Katie Pugh)“We are one of the few local authorities who have established a strategy, plan and charter to support micro businesses as part of our regeneration efforts. By supporting these businesses, which are an engine for job growth and an integral part of our local economy, we believe we can deliver many of the objectives of the city’s economic strategy.
“We also recognise the key role that the micro business sector can play in addressing the climate emergency and we are able to provide advice and funding to help reduce business carbon emissions.”
The strategy, action plan and charter have been endorsed by Hull-born Tony Robinson OBE, author, ‘happipreneurship’ speaker and micro business champion.
He said: “It is a great pleasure to endorse this excellent micro business strategy for my favourite city and home of Hull. Hull has set a world class standard for support to young enterprising people and enacting this strategy will set the standard for support to micro business owners.
“I wish to put on record how much I admire Hull City Council for their commitment to the city’s micro business community, helping to facilitate the development of this strategy and action plan and at the same time developing with micro business owners and their supporters a Micro Enterprise Charter. This shows they are not just developing this strategy to tick a box, they wish to change a mind.
“Just like when they supported #ExcludedUK – Hull does not just talk it does.”
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The five year strategy and action plan was developed with help from some of the 6,000 micro-businesses in the city, including David Riszko, who founded Zeporal Entertainment after completing the Making Changes for Careers (MC4C) programme.
He said: “I probably wouldn’t be doing this if it wasn’t for MC4C and I think this service has been immensely valuable. It can be lonely setting up in business and support is important.
“It’s important to society to have at least some small understanding of the role that businesses are playing in terms of innovation and employment because those are what keep the city going really and you don’t want to stagnate. The more people you get to do it, the more ideas you get.”
Fellow start-ups are also backing the move.
Lewis Allen from Study Tribe added: “There are many smart creative people in any community, however socially deprived and just because they don’t show it in the way I do, doesn’t mean they should miss out on opportunities that are there for me. I don’t want people thinking ‘I can’t do this because this is where I’m from.’”
Sergei Komkov from Images are Moments, said: “It’s virtually impossible to be a full-time artist, so it’s important to have the opportunity to be employed and self-employed. I’ve been furloughed from my employment for a year. Given the opportunity to learn new skills in this downtime has lessened the stress.”
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“Having a city that’s nice to live in, at the end of the day, makes everyone happier, more productive and healthy in general.
“I’m a believer in passing on and sharing – in 10 or 20 years’ time we will want to support and mentor the next group of young people”
Hull City Council has appointed a dedicated Micro Biz Advisor, agreed to support Micro Biz Matters Day next January in partnership with Yorkshire in Business, and established a business grant scheme.
Access the Micro Business Strategy and Action Plan and Micro Business Charter here.
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