Addressing Oxfordshire”s business challenges: take part in the ScaleUp Survey 2019

Back in Marchwe revealed how new insights from the ScaleUp Institute showed that the number of businesses achieving ‘scale-up’ status in the UK had significantly increased to over 360with over 480 of these from Oxfordshire.

The report also revealed that the top-five of these Oxfordshire scale-ups by employment growth were: Virtua Silbury AgilityWorks Oxford Economics and YASA Motors while the top-five for turnover growth were; Oxford Nanopore Rebellion GigaclearCircassia and Virtua.

Based on 2017 Office for National Statistics data the report also highlighted the strength of small and growth businesses in Oxfordshirea county that has the second fastest-growing economy of all UK cities (Irwin Mitchell report- autumn 2017).

Oxfordshire scale-ups are now employing over 49000 staff and their turnover is worth an estimated £5.2 billionwith eight out of 10 expecting to scale again over the rest of 2019generating £1.5 billion more in turnover and creating an extra 7000 jobs according to the results of the last ScaleUp business survey.

The ScaleUp Institute is a not-for-profit organisation with the ambition of making the UK the best place to grow and scale-up a business.

With a thriving business community Oxfordshire also boasts significant business survival rateswith 49.3% of 2790 new businesses created in Oxfordshire in 2011 still in operation in 2016 (ONS report – November 2017).

The Oxfordshire Local Industrial Strategyset to launch at our 2018/19 Annual Review event is underpinned by the five foundations of productivity: Ideas People Places Infrastructure and Business Environment.

This final strand is based around the priority of addressing identified business challenges (including access to premises and finance) to ensure the region can ‘maximise its commercial and innovative potential’.

Whilst a location seen to drive growthand with over 31000 VAT registered businesses across a whole array of sectors many firms in Oxfordshire continue to struggle to grow to scale and do not translate ideas into business growth as well as some other competitor locations.

One key way the Oxfordshire Local Industrial Strategy aims to enhance the county’s business support offer is through the Growth Hub otherwise known as OxLEP Business. In particular this focuses on the eScalate scale-up programme providing a service that delivers dedicated support for high growth potential businesses.

Now in its fifth yearthe ScaleUp Survey 2019 is currently gathering responses and wants to hear from scale-up and fast-growing businesses from across the UK on the main barriers holding back growthas they seek to improve the business environment.

Take part in the ScaleUp Survey 2019

Find out more about Oxfordshire’s Growth Hub