Free advice to support SMEs back to business

Opportunity to join a UK-wide effort to help thousands of small business owners to recover from the impact of Coronavirus through expert advice.

The Advertising Association is excited to be taking part in the Recovery Advice for Business scheme. The scheme is a partnership between the Professional and Business Services Sector and Enterprise Nation, supported by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, and aims to offer thousands of SMEs free advice to help them recover from the impact of the Coronavirus crisis. The onboarding of  business experts onto the platform  to participate in the scheme has begun today (June 26). This will be followed by a launch of the scheme to businesses in early July.

Business Ministers, Nadhim Zahawi and Paul Scully have written to the advertising industry encouraging its support. You can read the letter here. Our CEO Stephen Woodford has also enthusiastically backed the scheme, commenting:

“Marketing and advertising will play a vital role in our economic recovery through re-building consumer confidence and driving competition and innovation. People in our industry will be keen to support the Recovery Advice for Business scheme and share their expertise to help UK SMEs planning their Covid-19 recovery strategies. This is an opportunity to help Britain’s challenger brands and businesses get back into growth, so they can play their part in rebuilding the economy, protecting and creating jobs and prosperity across the Nations and regions of the UK.”

Alongside the Advertising Association, trade and professional bodies are mobilising experts in our sectors to offer one-hour free calls to SMEs who need advice on topics from accounting to advertising, HR and legal affairs. Enterprise Nation is providing free access to its platform until December 31 2020 to enable SMEs to connect with a community of business advisers volunteering to help them overcome this challenging period.

The trade and professional bodies who are already encouraging their members to sign up and offer free advice are: ICAEW, CIPD, the Advertising Association, The Law Society and the Management Consultancies Association.

How you can help and join the effort

This crisis has significantly impacted SMEs, and the need for expert business advice has never been more crucial.

That’s why we need professional experts to volunteer at least one hour per month over the six-month scheme to answer calls from SMEs needing advice. To get involved you need to:

1. Register as a Business Adviser volunteer by completing this form and enter this coupon code: ADVPLUS2020.
2. Complete your profile on Enterprise Nation by uploading a photo, add this copy to your bio and include your company details. The more information you provide, the more SMEs will understand how your advice can help them.

Small businesses are the backbone of the UK economy. You have an opportunity to support the recovery through offering valuable advice to small businesses at the time they need it most.

We hope you will join us in the mission to save our small business community.

Any questions? Click here to see FAQs on the programme. For more information contact Matthew Evans at the Advertising Association.