Thanks for the mention Elaine Stroud - we thoroughly enjoying working with you and engaging with your stakeholders to drive insight.
As CEO of The Entrepreneurs Forum, I lead a vibrant community for North East entrepreneurs to be energised, uplifted and inspired by each other
We asked over 100 North East entrepreneurs about their business confidence and thoughts on the recent budget. The findings are concerning. 👎 57% said they are more pessimistic for their own business, following the Budget (only 13% said they were now more optimistic) 👎 77% said they disagree/ strongly disagree that the Budget will help entrepreneurs to grow the economy (only 6% agreed that the Budget would help growth) Our region's entrepreneurs are projecting lower growth in both turnover and headcount in their businesses than previously reported. 🛑 41% are forecasting either no growth/ decreases in turnover in the next 12 months (up from 18% reported in the last quarter). This does, of course, mean that 59% are still expecting top line growth, although the number forecasting growth over 20% has decreased from 32% to 16%, indicating growth will may be lower. ⚠️ Although 40% of businesses still expect to increase headcount in 2025, this is down from 65% of businesses that reported expansion plans last quarter. As with the reduced sales forecasts, there was a drop in the number of businesses expecting to grow headcount by more than 20%. This fell from 23% down to just 7%. This survey also found 14% expect to decrease headcount, compared to just 3% planning decreases when asked last quarter. Is there any good news? 💡 Yes, our members know the parameters and direction of travel of the new government and will work to overcome challenges. Whilst those feeling optimistic/ very optimistic has fallen from 86% to 66%, an overwhelming two thirds of entrepreneurs are still positive. Most see opportunities within their existing markets and nearly half expect to launch new products of services next year. We will be releasing the full survey findings in the coming days. Thank you goes to Explain Market Research for helping understand our research. #NEentrepreneurs #Optimism #Budget