Business support programme for self-employed delivers £12.7 million revenue boost

The EnterprisingYou business support programme for Greater Manchester’s self-employed workforce has added £12.7 million to their revenue over the last three years.

EnterprisingYou is a fully funded business support service that offers a mixture of workshops, coaching, health and wellbeing support to self-employed and gig economy workers across the region. Since launching three years ago, the scheme has worked with over 3,000 participants across Greater Manchester with earnings of under £27,000.

Among the businesses and entrepreneurs to have taken part are professional chefs Malanie Tillekeratne and Michael Hooper who run The Little Sri Lankan in Levenshulme, which delivers Sri Lankan curry ready meals across Levenshulme and Stockport, using recipes passed down from Malanie’s mother.

Michael Hooper, Co-owner of The Little Sri Lankan and EnterprisingYou participant said of the business’ experience with the scheme:

“Having someone I can turn to when I encounter a question or doubt about the business operation is good. Our mentor is always there to provide an answer and insight to us with his knowledge and put us in the right direction.”

EnterprisingYou was launched in 2019 to combat the issues raised in a stark report in 2018 from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). The report found that despite the over 4 million-strong self-employed workforce contributing over £270 billion to the UK economy in 2017, they were often at the sharp end of the nation’s fiscal and financial challenges.

Yvonne Sampson, Head of Enterprise, GC Business Growth Hub, said:

“The UK has a proud tradition of self-employed workers. We just want to make sure that tradition continues.

“Many were already struggling, but the pandemic magnified those issues. Programmes like EnterprisingYou offer help and support and are designed in a way that people will eventually be able to stand on their own.

“We’re really proud to have helped thousands of self-employed people in Greater Manchester to succeed.”

Extended twice due to its success, the pilot programme was commissioned by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), with funding from the Department for Education (DfE). Alongside the millions in revenue added by the self-employed, the Insight Report shows the programme’s 3,000 participants saw a £663,246 reduction in benefits claimed and a £4.7m increase in businesses profitability.