Small Businesses

This is Global Entrepreneur week!

Entrepreneurs are more important to the British economy now than at any other time in recent memory. The Conservatives are working hard to give them the best possible chance of succeeding.

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Leather Lane is a microcosm of Holborn & St Pancras (indeed modern Britain) - cosmopolitan and vibrant. Many of the small businesses in this street have been here for generations. I received a very warm reception from the people I met here: shopkeepers who had been born and bred in the area (eg James Gubb family butchers) as well as first generation Asians, Middle Eastern, Chinese and African immigrants. They mixed well and expressed a common desire to build a better tomorrow for themselves and their families through hard work. I know from my own experience that running a small family business requires very hard and dedicated work around the clock, but such businesses are the backbone of both this constituency and the country. That is why we Conservatives will do all we can to help such businesses to survive and thrive in Gordon Brown's recession.

A thriving family business is the great immigrant success story. I know all about it, I used to work in one myself. It’s a success story for the economy as a whole too. But it’s not that easy with language difficulties and a lack of a professional/business network, so the project ‘Promoting Enterprise among Bengali Women’ is really worth supporting.

I was honoured to speak at the Surma Centre in Robert Street at an event to provide encouragement and practical support for Bengali women setting up businesses, organised by the Bengali Workers’ Association and Association of Community Based Advice. I’m determined to see more schemes like this flourish. It was a very enjoyable day and personally very fulfilling because I was able to use my management consulting and business knowhow to provide advice to a number of ladies seeking to start up their own businesses. I was very impressed with the energy, entrepreneurial spirit and determination of the participants at this delightful event.