Yorkshire SMEs receive boost from GS programme

New research indicates that participants in the Goldman Sachs’ scheme - which is known as 10,000 Small Businesses UK - are providing a long-term economic boost for Yorkshire. Ninety per cent of the scheme’s graduates are still growing their net employment figures three years after starting the programme, and 88 per cent of participants are growing turnover, according to a progress report compiled by academic institutions including Leeds University Business School.

The Goldman Sachs programme has been rolled out nationally after a successful launch in Leeds. In 2010 Goldman Sachs, which is led by its chairman and chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, announced that it was funding a business education programme in Yorkshire to help small businesses grow. Under the programme, entrepreneurs go on a four-month business and management course which has an emphasis on real-life practical experience. Partners in the scheme include the Saïd Business School, Aston Business School, Leeds University Business School, Manchester Metropolitan University Business School and UCL. The report on the scheme, entitled Empowering Entrepreneurs, Accelerating Growth, builds on an initial progress report published in April 2013. The report compares participants with similar businesses that did not take part in the programme. It concludes that the programme increases participating businesses’ growth by between 10 per cent and 25 per cent, relative to what it would have been without the programme. The initiative, which is supported by Goldman Sachs and the Goldman Sachs Foundation, is designed for leaders of established small businesses who have the appetite and potential to grow their enterprises.

Recent participants in the scheme have included The Test People, a Leeds-based business which prevents website failures for major corporate names.

Michelle Pinggera, the international chief of staff for Goldman Sachs, who played a major role in launching the scheme in Yorkshire, said: “Small businesses are key to the UK’s growth prospects.”