What is holding back disabled entrepreneurs in the UK? New research suggests that while entrepreneurs with a disability are well-represented among the UK’s small business founders, many are struggling to build businesses of scale. Disabled entrepreneurs account for around a quarter of the UK’s 5.45 million business owners according to research produced for the Government-backed Lilac Review, but these firms account for only 8.6% of small businesses’ turnover.
“Disabled entrepreneurs are innovative, impactful and growing, yet we remain under-represented, underfunded and underestimated,” says Victoria Jenkins, who co-chaired the Lilac Review, an independent review commissioned by the British Government to explore inequalities faced by disabled-led businesses.
Jenkins, who is also the founder and CEO of fashion brand Unhidden, says entrepreneurs with disabilities are routinely turned down for funding and excluded from access to broader business support. “[We need]
a fundamental rethink of what opportunity should look like,” she says.
It’s an important argument. The Lilac Review’s research, carried out by academics at ARU Peterborough and the Small Business Britain group, found that while 73% of disabled entrepreneurs were ambitious to boost their business’s revenues, many faced significant barriers in doing so.
Certainly, financing is a major issue. More than half the entrepreneurs taking part in the research said financial support would be their critical need over the coming year. But a recent Access2Finance study found that disabled business founders were 400 times less likely to secure investment than their non-disabled counterparts.
More broadly, however, entrepreneurs with a disability face a range of other problems that other small business owners don’t have to worry about. The ongoing costs of managing a disability are often significant, while many entrepreneurs worry that increasing their business’s income will lead to them losing essential state benefits. Difficult health conditions can also limit productivity. In total, the Lilac Review puts the additional “disability price tag” faced by the average entrepreneur at more than £1,000 ($1,357) a month.
Supporting small business founders with a disability is important from the perspective of societal equality but also represents a major economic opportunity, the Lilac Review concludes. It believes that removing the problems currently holding disabled entrepreneurs could unlock £230 billion ($312 billion) of benefits for the UK.
Sarah Berthon, founder of Excel Against The Odds, a small business that supports people with chronic illnesses in the workplace, agrees. “Disabled entrepreneurs face many challenges and obstacles as they set up and grow their business, yet the rewards can be far-reaching.” She says. “As a business owner living with multiple chronic illnesses, I have experienced many difficulties, but running a business is a wonderful experience – it is good for my well-being and provides me with a true sense of purpose.”
Hayley Kellard, the founder of greeting card and stationary firm Dotty About Braille, points to plans for the launch of the UK’s first dedicated incubator and research centre for disabled entrepreneurs, the Lilac Centre, as particularly important. Kellard, who, like Berthon, served on the Lilac Review’s steering committee, says: “The whole process shows just how much can be achieved in a relatively short space of time when people are committed, passionate, and focused on making a real difference.”
Other initiatives prompted by the inquiry include the launch of the Disability Finance Code, a new code of best practice co-developed with UK Finance, the British Business Bank and small business investors. The code aims to break down the barriers faced by many disabled entrepreneurs seeking finance for their small business.
The Lilac Review has also issued a series of recommendations, including calls for the UK Government to ensure its new Business Growth Service is fully accessible and to open up public procurement exercises to disabled entrepreneurs. Financial services businesses such as banks need to do more, the review says, particularly to develop flexible lending products, to improve financial literacy support and to ensure investment processes are more accessible
“The findings of this report are clear: change is needed – not later, but now,” adds Jenkins. “That means inclusive finance, accessible business support and communities that empower rather than exclude.”
For its part, the UK Government has pledged to respond positively. Small business minister Gareth Thomas, who co-chaired the review, says: “This government is committed to delivering further and faster economic growth – a key part of this is ensuring that those with the ambition to start and scale up a business have the right support to do so, no matter their background or circumstances.”
Read the full article here
