The proportion of new-build homes in the UK that are developed by small housebuilders has been shrinking for over three decades. In 1988, SME developers were responsible for 40% of newly built homes, but by 2019 that number had shrunk to just 12%.

With extraordinary women from across different parts of the country, a variety of backgrounds and industries, the 19th annual NatWest everywoman Awards brought these entrepreneurs together having one thing in common - being some of the UK’s most inspiring females, recognising their outstanding achievements during one of the most challenging periods for businesses in living memory.

Customer data decays at an alarming rate (approximately 37.5% every year), with thousands of people moving home or passing away daily.

Starting a business is not always easy. But scaling a business, any business, often brings many more challenges than actually starting one. A typical small business is quite simple, bat as that business grows it becomes more complex and has more moving parts which become ever more complicated to coordinate.

We’ve all heard about the ‘Great Resignation’: a mass exodus of employees worldwide, caused by a rapidly changing working landscape and general pandemic fatigue. In the UK, almost a quarter of workers say that they are actively planning on quitting their jobs in the next few months, while job vacancies are at the highest level since records began.

Brits are being urged to support this weekend’s Small Business Saturday bonanza as a whole host of local events boost and celebrate small firms nationwide. 

After a long-winded eighteen months of distancing and lockdowns, Britain rejoiced as restrictions were lifted. Many of us were hoping to throw the ultimate festive bash to mark the end of another difficult year, especially as last year’s office celebrations were entirely online.

Nowadays consumers are gradually becoming less receptive to advertisements. Different sources indicate that 75% of consumers don’t believe advertisements at all.

There’s something about plastic that makes us forget it’s real money, and spend without giving a hoot for the consequences — hence the age-old caution against putting it all on the credit card.

The life of an entrepreneur, especially in the initial stages of founding and growing a new company, is often marked by long, gruelling hours spent working alone. Though being your own boss is one of the main attractions to starting your own business, it is an inherently risky endeavour that can leave you making critical decisions alone, and ultimately shouldering a lot of responsibility.

This week, Startups Magazine spoke to Chris Sims, Managing Director, SoHo (Single/Small Office, Home Office) and Marketing at BT.

Global VC funding broke new ground in the first half of 2021, with a staggering $288bn invested worldwide.

There have been some big changes for many companies this year, but one company that just announced a big change is OVHcloud, as Michel Paulin, CEO of OVHcloud recently spoke at its annual international conference and explained the company will be going public and making promises to be more sustainable starting with the carbon capture programme.

One of the most effective ways of telling your story is by building your network. As any business scales it will inevitably deal with an ever-increasing number of customers and suppliers, as well as partners or enablers such as providers of all the myriad of services that will be required.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from COP26, it’s that we’ve a long way to go before we hit our CO2 emissions targets of which the transport industry is one of the biggest contributors. The sector accounts for 23% of the world’s energy-related CO2 emissions, and so, if businesses neglect to place sustainability at the crux of their strategies, they’re likely to fall behind, fast.