Harold Sharples

Warrington, United Kingdom United Kingdom

Chairman

Apparel / Fashion

High Growth Businesses (EU definition) account for more than 50% of all the new jobs created in the whole of the UK. There were only 11,530 High-Growth businesses in the UK at the last count ... yet every year they create an additional 500,000 NEW long-term jobs. The average half-life of a UK business is 3.5 years. In other words, if 100 businesses started this year, only 50 of them would still be trading in 42 months (3.5 years) time. The more businesses we have with short half-lives, the less long-term jobs we have to provide job-stability in our communities. The average High-Growth business has a half-life of 35 years ... 10 times as long as most other businesses. So, if...