Some interesting facts

                                                        ...about small to medium size businesses in the UK 

Government definitions for size of businsses

Small = 1 -49 people

Medium = 50 - 249 people

Large = 250 + people

SME facts

500,000 New Start-ups per year

4.7 million SME businesses in total

2.7 million are sole proprietors

99% of businesses employ less than 50 people

97% of businesses employ less than 20 people (most employ less than 8 people)

12 million people employed by SME's (that is 58% of the private sector workforce)

£2400 billion turnover from SME's (that is 51% of the UK GDP)

60% of all commercial innovation comes from SME's

SME "sad but true" facts

50%of new businesses fail in the first two years

80% of new businesses fail in the first five years (80% of the remainder fail in the next five years!)

2 most popular reasons for failure are poor funding and poor management