British companies must do more to assist each other during the recession, according to a multi-millionaire entrepreneur who will tomorrow launch a £10m initiative to support people trying to set up businesses.
Mark Dixon, the chief executive and founder of office provider Regus, will provide free office space as well as advice to those looking to establish businesses in what is already the country’s deepest recession since Margaret Thatcher’s early years in Downing Street.
'We’re in something more serious than a recession: it’s very fast and global,” said Mr Dixon. “We need a war-time spirit and companies need to get together and be counted.'
The Government this month announced plans to guarantee more than £20bn of bank loans to small and mid-tier companies, which employ about 13.5 million people in the UK.
Although that plan received a cautious welcome from business groups, Mr Dixon – who started his career running a sandwich delivery business in Chelmsford, Essex, in 1976 – argues that it is critical to continue to start new businesses in the teeth of the downturn.
Sunday Telegraph
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