The Take-up of Business Growth Training Schemes by Ethnic Minority-owned: Small Firms in Britain

Abstract

SUSAN MARLOW IS A SENIOR LECTURER in the Leicester Polytechnic Business School, England. A feature of the growth of the small business sector in Britain has been the emergence of the ethnic minority-owned enterprise but ethnic-owned firms do not appear to be benefiting from or even using professional advice. This research takes the example of a business development scheme sponsored by a government advice agency, using it as a test case to assess what level of interest exists in such programmes from minority group business owners. The evidence indicates that minority group entrepreneurs and white small firm owners with a substantial proportion of their employees from ethnic minorities have a genuine and considerable interest in developing their businesses through the use of formal business growth training and professional advice.