Your weekly summary of entrepreneurship news, comment, and features. Sent by the Centre for Entrepreneurs (home of StartUp Britain). Sign up here. Read the original newsletter here.
News
Government launches consultation on non-compete clauses
gov.uk: The government is seeking views on whether non-compete clauses stifle entrepreneurship and innovation by preventing people from moving between employers, developing innovative ideas, creating a start-up or growing a business.
“How did Silicon Valley become the world’s leading innovation economy? One of the least celebrated and most fundamental drivers of that success is an obscure-but-powerful legal provision passed into law in 1872 [banning non-compete clauses]”. Chris DeVore (managing director, Techstars Seattle) writing in Techcrunch earlier this year
London is the second best city for tech investment, EY survey says
Economia: According to EY’s UK Attractiveness Survey, investors continue to see the UK’s capital as the most attractive city for foreign direct investment in Europe, and second in the world behind Silicon Valley. Read more
Lord Alan Sugar appointed government’s enterprise tsar (again)
gov.UK: Lord Sugar has been appointed enterprise tsar for the second time. He will undertake a series of roadshow events across England, speaking to school leavers to champion entrepreneurship and apprenticeships. Announcing the appointment, skills minister Nick Boles claimed Lord Sugar has “huge credibility” among young people. Read more
Working this bank holiday? For 75% of small business owners it’s just another day
Mail Online: More than three-quarters of SME owners say they will be working this bank Holiday Monday, while four in 10 argue public holidays have become irrelevant to modern business needs. 44% will be catching up with emails today. Read more
British Business Bank opens £30m growth pot – first phase of a £200m loan scheme
Real Business: Initially announced by the PM at the beginning of 2015 with the aim of facilitating £100m of growth loans within two years, the British Business Bank has now officially launched the first phase of the ‘Help to Grow” scheme.Read more
Opinion
Why the smallest firms must make EU politics their business
Emma Jones (founder, Enterprise Nation) makes the case for small businesses to engage in the EU referendum debate and make an informed decision. Read more
SME public sector contracts are too few and mired in red tape
The government hasn’t been feeding SMEs from its own table as much as it should, writes Charlie Mullins (founder & CEO, Pimlico Plumbers). Read more
- Related: Read the Centre’s Spend Small Index – ranking local authorities on small firm spending (Sept 2014)
We’ve not even scratched the surface of fintech’s true potential – and banks will struggle to keep up
..writes Rich Ricci (chairman, freemarketfx and BetBright). Read more