Global chance to grow

AS Oldham entrepreneurs strive to beat the recession by building profitable businesses, research has revealed they could be stalling their success by not taking advantage of support available to help grow their operations globally.

According to a survey commissioned by Alibaba. com, the world’s largest online B2B marketplace for small businesses, 98 per cent of respondents in Oldham were unaware of current initiatives to help UK businesses expand into overseas trade.

This is despite the existence of schemes such as the UK Trade and Investment Global Entrepreneur Programme and help from Business Link as well as other regional development agencies.

Given this apparent lack of awareness, it is unsurprising that just over one in four (27 per cent) Oldham entrepreneurs believe enough is being done to support growth in the current economy, when in fact they could be missing out on significant sums in possible revenue from potential overseas partners.