UK minister calls on EU to match US start-up rates
The EU must improve its performance if it is to match US start-up rates, said the UK's Small Business Minister, Nigel Griffiths, in Belfast on 16 June. Mr Griffiths said that the European Commission's future action plan, prepared in response to the Green Paper on entrepreneurship would be key to boosting the growth in start-ups, and outlined a number of areas in which he believes the plan should focus. 'We need greater flexibility to use state aid to address market failures when they happen. Some of the most deprived communities are in cities that have minimal structural fund or assisted area coverage,' said Mr Griffiths. 'Under-represented groups also need to be encouraged to start up. For example, in the US, 50 per cent of new businesses are started by women. If women set up in business at the same rate as men in the UK then we would have another 100,000 start-ups a year,' he added. Other areas which the Commission should address include: - stimulation of venture capital; - creation of an 'Enterprise Day' in all EU countries; - earlier and wider consultation to ensure that small businesses have a bigger say in the development of policy; - reducing the stigma of failure by giving business owners who have failed through no fault of their own a second chance.
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