Ethnic Minority Enterprise

There are an estimated 275,000 ethnic minority SMEs in the UK, contributing an estimated £20 billion to the UK economy per year- five per cent of total SME GVA (£369bn). They make up six per cent of all SMEs in the UK, comprising an increasingly diverse range of businesses.
Whilst ethnic minority groups overall have a self-employment rate equal to British and other white groups (both eight per cent), there is a wide variation between ethnic groups. Black Africans (five per cent) and Bangladeshis (six per cent) have lower self-employment rates than Pakistani (11 per cent), Indian (eight per cent) and Chinese (eight per cent) people. (BERR estimate based on ONS Labour Force Survey 2007, UK, rate out of all adults.)
The new Business Support Simplification Programme will allow some products to be designed to give additional support to under-represented groups, including ethnic minority groups. These products will be monitored and evaluated to ensure that the impact not only reaches the target audience but also helps them to contribute more effectively to the UK economy.

What are we already doing?

The Ethnic Minority Business Task Force was launched in June 2007. The Task Force will help foster growth among black and minority ethnic (BME) firms and boost economic participation by BME entrepreneurs. It will also ensure that ethnic minority entrepreneurs have access to quality, appropriate Business Support. One of its tasks will be to investigate why ethnic minority businesses face additional barriers in access to finance. The Taskforce is co-Chaired by Tom Riordan (CEO Yorkshire Forward) and Adeeba Malik (Deputy Chief Executive of QED UK - (Quest for Economic Development). Secretariat support for the Taskforce is provided by Yorkshire Forward.
Make Your Mark - the Government is funding the Make Your Mark campaign run by Enterprise Insight. Enterprise Insight is building a bank of accessible champions and ambassadors, who will act as role models for young people in our ethnic minority communities. The opportunities for young people presented by enterprise will be built into existing Enterprise Insight events and specific activities.

Children’s Centres - pilot to test the potential for Business Link to reach hard to reach groups eg Pakistani and Bangladeshi women through Children’s Centres in Rotherham. To start in Spring 2008.
Prince’s Trust – Government is going to further develop its work with the Prince’s Trust, a UK charity with a proven track record of helping young people realise their potential and strong and established links with disadvantage communities. Government will provide the Princes Trust with funding which will enable the Trust to identify role models and raise awareness of the benefits of enterprise amongst some of our most disadvantaged young people.
Ethnic Minority Ambassadors – The Women’s Enterprise Ambassador Network has been successful in promoting enterprise amongst women. We will explore how this could be extended to ethnic minority entrepreneurs.