We are thrilled that this week marks the fourth year of Barclays' support of Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW); the world’s largest campaign to promote entrepreneurship.
Our support of high growth entrepreneurs forms part of our Citizenship agenda; by supporting these ambitious entrepreneurs and businesses to scale up, we will drive growth in local economies and help create new jobs.
Drawing inspiration from Sherry Coutu’s highly regarded Scale-Up Report, Barclays will be holding events and panel discussions across the country to discuss the five gaps in entrepreneur support.
Leadership support is a key gap highlighted by Sherry. This occurs where fast growing companies require different types of skilled leaders across the stages of their growth. Companies that are scaling up need to adapt quickly to the changing demands of leadership. However, the founder might not have all the necessary qualities as a company scales.
Whilst some external recruitment may be necessary, it is critical to develop internal talent to help the company to scale up. The Scale-Up Report found that companies being mentored contribute to 23% more growth in job creation than comparable companies.
In the UK, there are a few examples of successful mentoring schemes including the BBA mentorsme programme and Tech City UK; however there is still a shortage of role models who are providing mentoring advice to first timer entrepreneurs.
As part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, Barclays held an event in Edinburgh to discuss the state of leadership in companies scaling up in the UK today, and how combining internal and external talent can achieve effective leadership. Speakers included Mike Welch from Blackcircles.com, Andy Gregory from Business Growth Fund and Jamie Coleman from CodeBase.
Follow Barclays' Mind the Gap series this week to find out about the gaps in support to scaling your business.