Questions to the Mayor of London – answered at on 21 September 2022.
According to the Federation of Small Businesses, awareness of the London Business Hub is still low amongst business owners. What actions are you taking to raise awareness and signpost small businesses to the hub?
Our offer from the London Business Hub has grown exponentially over recent years and we work hard to ensure that brand awareness continues to be a priority: communications channels include social media campaigns, newsletters, events and ensuring our stakeholders cascade messages down.
Since 2020, we have seen an almost 200% increase in the number of unique users and a 320% increase in the number of subscribers. We also now engage with over 290 stakeholders (including boroughs, business support agencies and membership organisations) informing them of our programmes and events on a monthly basis. Over 9000 businesses receive our monthly newsletter. These numbers continue to grow month by month.
In addition to this, a review of business support services across the GLA is now concluding; which will propose further measures to increase awareness and access of support to small businesses.
Of course, with over one million microbusinesses and SMEs in London, raising awareness will always be a significant challenge; which we will continue to strive to address.