Business Gateway welcomes Good Growth result with plans to help small business build on it.

The Business Gateway for Leicester and Leicestershire has welcomed the findings published today by Demos-PwC as part of their Good Growth for Cities Index.  The Index saw Leicester achieving the highest ranking of any East Midlands city at 14^th out of 50.  The index uses indicators such as environment, transport, jobs, high street and shops, skills and new businesses.

Business Gateway Manager, Rachel York, commented: “It’s very heartening to see the city and county recognised as a great place to start and grow a business.  It’s our job to make sure that this potential is realised – particularly in such challenging times globally.

“We’re interested to see that manufacturing is 16% of Leicester’s economy, wholesale and retail is 11.4% and real estate is nearly 12%.  This situation means that we have a slightly below average overall rate of economic growth in the region and that’s what we’ll continue to address in the new financial year.  We will continue to focus on supporting microbusinesses and very small businesses because they bring variety to our economy and, with the right support, can grow quickly.

“It’s also good to see that the environment and work-life balance are becoming more highly valued.  We have offered programmes in Going Green throughout the year and they have proven very popular with our clients, along with our Zellar carbon reduction programme.  This focus will continue in our new programme of events to be published soon.”

Mrs York concluded: “We completely agree with Ali Breadon of PwC’s comments that local government, employers and leaders all have a part to play in providing opportunities to grow businesses, careers, and skills.  This of course is why the Business Gateway exists – to support growth, at start-up and for many years after.”

The Demos PwC Report can be found here: Good growth – Government & public sector – PwC UK