A new initiative is gathering pledges from large firms to help the growing number of flood-affected small businesses recover from the worst of the storm crisis.
The Small Business Relief Fund was begun by Enterprise Nation in collaboration with Crowdfunder UK after a poll revealed that one in four of the UK’s small businesses expected their turnover to be impacted by the severe weather conditions the country has experienced this year.
It also found that 17 per cent of the small firms surveyed expected to lose thousands of pounds as a result of the crisis and that 32 per cent were expecting it to have a long-term impact on their business.
As Emma Jones, founder of Enterprise Nation, pointed out, 70 per cent of all new businesses start at home, so it is not just the obvious business premises that are being affected by the flooding.
She added that being submerged or without power at an early stage in a business’s life cycle can make or break it, so any help other firms can give could be the difference between prospering and failing for affected firms.
The collaboration is therefore asking unaffected small and large firms to make a donation via the Crowdfunder website to specific flood and storm-battered regions, with their own company logo displayed on the site as a clear message of support.
Within hours of setting up the site, large firms like Vodafone, Toshiba, Lloyds Bank, Royal Mail and EDF Energy pledged help and supplies, leading Enterprise and Skills Minister Matthew Hancock to call for other firms to add to the support.