MENTA joins national conversation on the future of small business support
- by @inc
- 18-12-2025
On 2 December 2025, MENTA was proud to return to Warwick Business School’s offices at The Shard for the 10th annual ERC State of Small Business Britain Conference — a landmark event bringing together policymakers, academics, and enterprise support organisations from across the UK.
This year’s conference focused on small business support, inclusion, and growth, themes that sit at the very heart of MENTA’s mission to empower businesses since 1984. With the government’s recently published Small Business Strategy setting out a long-term vision for enterprise support, the day explored an important question: how do we ensure this strategy truly meets the needs of diverse entrepreneurs and supports growth in every community?
The agenda was opened by Professor Stephen Roper and Professor Mark Hart of the Enterprise Research Centre (ERC), who set out a compelling case for growth for all through a positive, evidence-based policy agenda. This was followed by powerful contributions from Professor Monder Ram (Aston University) on the importance of backing the everyday economy, and Kelly Bewers (CityVentures), who challenged the audience to rethink entrepreneurship and build a more inclusive start-up ecosystem, drawing on her work around social mobility.
MENTA CEO Alex Till joined fellow enterprise representing both MENTA and the National Enterprise Network leaders during the afternoon sessions, contributing to discussions around the critical role of trusted, local business support organisations. Alex spoke about MENTA’s experience of working directly with start-ups, microbusinesses, and underrepresented founders, highlighting the importance of meeting entrepreneurs where they are rather than offering one-size-fits-all solutions.
Further sessions included a policy discussion led by Mark Hart with Angelina Cannizzaro (Department for Business and Trade), examining the Small Business Strategy and recent Budget measures, alongside research insights from Dr Lorna Treanor FRSA (University of Nottingham) on innovation and growth in female-led businesses.
A business panel chaired by Liz Barclay (Institute of Directors) explored priorities for small business support in uncertain times, followed by a timely presentation from Professor Steven Furnell on the growing cybersecurity challenges facing SMEs. Later in the day, Greg Clark (Warwick Innovation District) and Steve Rigby (Rigby Group plc) discussed the importance of building strong local entrepreneurial ecosystems, while Alex Till (National Enterprise Network) passionately highlighted the collective impact of organisations providing front-line enterprise support.
The conference closed with a keynote from Dr Rachel Doern (Goldsmiths, University of London), who shared insights from her book The Resilient Entrepreneur: From Crisis to Enlightenment, offering a fitting conclusion to a day centred on resilience, adaptability, and long-term growth.
Several key themes resonated strongly with MENTA’s work, including:
- The vital role of microbusinesses in the UK economy and their quiet innovation
- The need for tailored, person-centred business support
- The value of trusted local and community-based enterprise organisations
- The importance of stable, long-term funding for business support
- The need for evidence-based policymaking
MENTA would like to thank the ERC for hosting another insightful and inspiration event. Events like this reinforce the importance of collaboration between policy, research, and delivery organisations to ensure small businesses across the UK can start, survive, and thrive.