Speaker 1: Just over a week, of course, until the Chancellor Rachel
Speaker 1: Reeves will unveil her Spring Statement, which is expected to
Speaker 1: announce further spending cuts to keep the deficit and borrowing
Speaker 1: under control. This is many UK businesses are facing tax
Speaker 1: rises when an increase in employers National Insurance comes into
Speaker 1: force next month. Small businesses then, of course key to
Speaker 1: drive in the economic growth the government so desperately wants
Speaker 1: and needs. So what would help them? What is the prescription?
Speaker 1: The latest report from Goldman Sachs, built on their ten
Speaker 1: thousand small Businesses program, contains some key recommendations. Joining us
Speaker 1: to discuss is a Sahu Pompei, Global head of Corporate
Speaker 1: Engagement at Goldman Sachs and President of the Goldman sax Foundation. Sahi,
Speaker 1: thanks for joining us in the studio. What is the
Speaker 1: sentiment right now amongst the small businesses that Goldman engages
Speaker 1: with across the UK.
Speaker 2: It's a combination of things, I'd say, I think it's
Speaker 2: sort of three emotions they're having. There's a fair amount
Speaker 2: of optimism about the environment and the road ahead. They're
Speaker 2: concerned about the uncertainty of policies from a macro perspective,
Speaker 2: and what's going to happen there, and they're also committed.
Speaker 2: They're committed to bringing ideas forward. They've heard the government's
Speaker 2: call for ideas on growth and they've put forth some
Speaker 2: key ideas that we're calling the Growth Agenda eighteen, specific
Speaker 2: ideas from small businesses in the UK for small businesses
Speaker 2: in the UK as to what could propel growth. And
Speaker 2: we're really talking about that because we think that's a
Speaker 2: tremendous potential opportunity if we frankly listen to the small
Speaker 2: business community, because those closest to the problem are often
Speaker 2: closest to the solution.
Speaker 3: So plenty in those recommendations for the government to look
Speaker 3: at things like skills, you know, calls we've heard before
Speaker 3: from business groups here in the UK. What's kind of
Speaker 3: the most important ones, the most important message these businesses
Speaker 3: want to try and send.
Speaker 2: I would say three things. One, access to capital. You
Speaker 2: need capital to grow your businesses. And what the small
Speaker 2: business community is asking for is effectively a summit. They
Speaker 2: want to bring together the small business community and match
Speaker 2: them with potential investors. Sometimes getting those connections. There's a
Speaker 2: bit of a plumbing issue to connect our small business
Speaker 2: community here in the UK with the investors that may
Speaker 2: want to contribute to their business, so they're asking one
Speaker 2: for a small business summit. The second thing they're asking
Speaker 2: for is talent. Lots of them that have open positions
Speaker 2: can find individuals that are qualified for those positions, and
Speaker 2: they say, what we really need is some changes to
Speaker 2: the UK educational system to teach entrepreneurship how to read
Speaker 2: a spreadsheet, things like public speaking, time management, the skills
Speaker 2: that allows individuals to graduate and then be able to
Speaker 2: enter the business environment job ready and so phenomenal educational system.
Speaker 2: But those tweaks our small business community is asking for.
Speaker 2: And the third one relates to AI. Small business community
Speaker 2: does not want to be left behind. As it relates
Speaker 2: to AI, they're leaning in. Some of them are already
Speaker 2: using various tools they report to me chat, GPT, Perplexity
Speaker 2: order and a number of other tools, but they would
Speaker 2: like to have a program where tech companies UK government
Speaker 2: get together with small businesses and really help them chart
Speaker 2: that road forward. So those are the three very specific
Speaker 2: recommendations that we're hearing from small business community.
Speaker 1: That's the near term, and then there's a longer term
Speaker 1: when it comes to education and ramping up those skills sets.
Speaker 1: What about taxes then, and we talked about the national
Speaker 1: insurance burden. To what extent is the tax burden on
Speaker 1: the SME space within the UK ahead wind or are
Speaker 1: they able to navigate that? How much concern is there
Speaker 1: about that burden.
Speaker 2: It's a bit of both, right because our businesses we
Speaker 2: have over two three hundred businesses that have graduated from
Speaker 2: the program. This is the fifteenth year that Goldman Sax
Speaker 2: is doing the program. These small business owners employ sixty
Speaker 2: two thousand individuals. They are about five point six billion
Speaker 2: pounds of revenue, so really a substantial community. And so
Speaker 2: some of them it's really is a headwind. It's increased
Speaker 2: their costs and they're concerned about that, and some of
Speaker 2: them have delayed their hiring or reduced their hiring as
Speaker 2: a result of it. Other businesses in our community are
Speaker 2: a bit larger and for them they're able to absorb
Speaker 2: the costs a bit more.
Speaker 3: Is sentiment worse now than it was a year ago
Speaker 3: or before the government changed?
Speaker 2: You know, I wouldn't say it's worse now. I think
Speaker 2: what we're seeing is, you know, with all the tariff discussions,
Speaker 2: you know a fair amount of uncertainty about what's going
Speaker 2: to happen to our small business owners in that environment?
Speaker 2: Tend to stand still. If you're going to open that
Speaker 2: new factory, if you're going to launch that new product,
Speaker 2: you're going to stand still and sort of figure out, well,
Speaker 2: what's the environment I'm going into before I expend those costs.
Speaker 2: So what we're seeing is a slowing in terms of
Speaker 2: certain decision making that the small businesses had previously, you know,
Speaker 2: had on tap.
Speaker 1: How they're thinking about international markets. And you know, I
Speaker 1: was speaking to the CEO of Euroinext today and he said, look,
Speaker 1: the US is simply becoming far less compelling as an
Speaker 1: international investment destination for European businesses and he expects a
Speaker 1: slow down in European businesses looking for example, to IPO
Speaker 1: in the US. When it comes to the view around
Speaker 1: Europe versus the US, whether this government needs to be
Speaker 1: more in terms of that relationship with Brussels and Europe.
Speaker 1: What is this, What does the sense from small businesses
Speaker 1: and what are they prioritizing in terms of their international market.
Speaker 2: It's a fabulous question because that's one of the things
Speaker 2: that we've been asking them about, which is what is
Speaker 2: your interest in terms of export doing business Almost universally,
Speaker 2: they're very, very interested in tapping more into the US market.
Speaker 2: We're hearing that across sector. Some of them are saying, one,
Speaker 2: how do I do that? You know, what's the roadmap
Speaker 2: to be able to do that too? The regulatory burden
Speaker 2: in terms of navigating that, certainly the tariff's conversation is
Speaker 2: a part of that as well, But the interest is
Speaker 2: unequivocally there, and I think they're trying to figure out
Speaker 2: how they could potentially do that because they're interested in growth,
Speaker 2: and so is the growth opportunity here in the UK.
Speaker 2: But maybe there's additional growth opportunity in the US as well.
Speaker 2: As I often say to people, you know, when I
Speaker 2: talk to business owners, we've got sixteen thousand in the
Speaker 2: United States that have graduated from the program, the twenty
Speaker 2: three hundred here. I'm often asked like, is the grass
Speaker 2: greener in the United States? And I usually say, the
Speaker 2: grass is greener where you water it, right. And so
Speaker 2: the UK small business community is an extremely vibrant community,
Speaker 2: and we just need to make sure that we're listening
Speaker 2: to them, and this Growth Agenda document that we've published
Speaker 2: really is their views on what it takes for them
Speaker 2: to be able to expand.
Speaker 3: It's interesting to hear that the policy conversation in the
Speaker 3: United States is being felt by businesses in that program
Speaker 3: as well. When we spoke last November, it was just
Speaker 3: after the election, and we talked to you about another
Speaker 3: part of your job, which is Goldman's philanthropic work, and
Speaker 3: how things might change under the Trump administration. I just
Speaker 3: wonder what has changed for that part of your job
Speaker 3: since then.
Speaker 2: You know, we really have not pivoted in terms of
Speaker 2: our philanthropic commitment. Our signature programs have been on small
Speaker 2: business and entrepreneurship and that is steadfast. That is a
Speaker 2: bipart distant issue. It's an area that is concerned around
Speaker 2: the globe. We run this program also in France as well,
Speaker 2: and so that aspect of our programming has not changed
Speaker 2: at all.
Speaker 1: Does the Trump administration policies walking back some of the focus,
Speaker 1: for example, well taking frankly a hostile view on things
Speaker 1: like inclusion diversity when it comes to that workforce, is
Speaker 1: that having an impact at all as businesses kind of
Speaker 1: to look look to that, to that pretty dramatic policy reset,
Speaker 1: and we say we're seeing businesses adjust to.
Speaker 2: That we're not seeing the small business give Certainly everyone's
Speaker 2: listening to it, hearing about it, but we're not seeing
Speaker 2: changes in the way that small businesses run their business,
Speaker 2: in the way that they hire they these are these
Speaker 2: are enterprises like you know, a gym, a medical facility,
Speaker 2: a maternal health facility, that really are committed to how
Speaker 2: can I pay my employees they usually pay themselves last,
Speaker 2: how do I figure out the regulatory landscape? How do
Speaker 2: I deal with the insurance tax? These are the kinds
Speaker 2: of issues that they're navigating, and frankly, they want the
Speaker 2: best talent wherever that that talent is going to come from.
Speaker 3: Okay, say Pompey, great to have you with us in studio.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for joining us. Global Head of
Speaker 3: Corporate Engagement at Goldman Sachs and President of the Goldman
Speaker 3: Sachs Foundation.