Vodafone has today launched “SMEs Like Me”, a new report which turns the spotlight on the people and personalities behind the millions of small businesses leading the charge for Britain’s economic recovery. The report also delves into some of the challenges facing SMEs within a post-Covid landscape and identifies opportunities to do more to support this vital sector.
Commissioned by Vodafone and conducted by consumer insights firm GWI, the report was compiled by responses from over a thousand SME owners/founders and employees across the UK.
According to the report, one of the main priorities for a quarter of all SMEs in 2022 is simply to stay afloat. This priority was even more acute amongst micro-businesses where the figure was as high as 32%. The report also shows that a ‘guidance gap’ is beginning to emerge with 59% of SMEs having sought no support or funding from any third party, and only 11% having sought advice from large companies or business mentors. Alarmingly, 71% of sole traders were not seeking out the help they were entitled to as they didn’t identify as a SME and therefore didn’t believe the support was available to them.
