|
If organisations like the Forum of Private Business (FPB) are the mouthpieces of small firms, Nick Goulding is more than happy to provide the bite when confronting ministers on everything from EU red tape to the minimum wage.
Goulding, FPB chief executive since 2000, has previously labelled the government “necessary…but evil” and claimed that several EU agreements must have been dreamt up by “madmen”.
But beneath the headline-making diatribes against the government’s interference in small firms, Goulding is encouragingly positive about entrepreneurship in the UK.
“From a financial point of view, the UK is a relatively benign environment,” he admits. “Although there could clearly be improvements, compared to most EU countries we have a banking industry which has the funds and focus on lending to small businesses. We also have a more developed venture capital industry than the rest of Europe.
“Businesses generally worry about resources – can I get enough money and get premises? Can I get the right staff? What regulatory framework do I have to work in?
“If you are put off by all that, you are never going to start a business, so in real sense, many businesses are starting in spite of all those things.
“I am a great advocate of people going into business, I think it creates enormous opportunities, but it clearly carries risks as well. That’s the nub – are you prepared to accept the risk?”
As head of a lobby group that represents 25,000 small businesses, Goulding is obliged to vigorously defend the interests of entrepreneurs. And there are plenty of concerns needing to be voiced, according to the FPB chief.
“We focus on what business owners don’t have any control over,” he explains. “We try and de-complicate regulation and to intervene with government to reduce regulation and create a level playing field. For example, if you take the retail sector, we look at how the big supermarkets operate in the marketplace.
“Although many things are better (here) than the rest of Europe, it doesn’t mean to say it’s good enough. We have a number of regulatory issues that affect the cost of raising finance and the way in which banks interact with their customers.
“We think that there’s not much of a relationship there and it’s too much of a top-down process. It should be more of an interactive process with more ownership with the business where both sides take responsibility.”
| 
