About

Ben Lobel was the editor of SmallBusiness.co.uk from 2010 to 2018. He specialises in writing for start-up and scale-up companies in the areas of finance, marketing and HR.

Business management

What type of entrepreneur are you?

Here, we look at four business types – where do you fit in?

News

Excuses for absence revealed by employees

Almost one in six working Britons admit to 'faking it' for a day off work, research finds.

Payroll

Small business employees show little tolerance for payroll errors 

More than a third (35 per cent) of employees say they would look for a new job if their employer paid them incorrectly just once, research finds.

News

Entrepreneurial Britain bristling with business brains

Britons generate more than 13,000 new business ideas per hour, according to a study.

News

Prompt payment still a problem for customers of small businesses

UK micro-businesses are owed over £16.9 billion by their customers, research finds.

News

Assistance from family and friends crucial to early stages of business

The majority of micro-business owners in the UK have received hands-on assistance from their family members and friends when starting up, saving on average £1,036 in wages during this crucial period, research finds.

News

Women show greater entrepreneurial ambition than men

Almost half of female entrepreneurs claim they are interested in starting another business in the next three years, compared to just one in five men, research finds.

News

Manufacturing confidence falls to lowest level in two years

Britain's manufacturing firms reported the biggest decline in optimism this month since March 2013, research finds.

News

Employee engagement low in SMEs

Just over a third of British staff are highly engaged at work, while 48 per cent claim to be only moderately engaged with the remainder having no or low engagement, research finds.

Business Ideas & Planning

Pop-up shops a common choice as millions aspire to start up

Some 11.6 million people plan to start their own business within the next two years. Some of these will utilise pop-up shops to begin their entrepreneurial journey.

News

London trumped for innovation by other regions of the UK 

London and Manchester are way behind Oxford, Liverpool and Teesside in a league table of UK areas creating new goods and services, according to research.

News

Small companies focus on remaining debt free

Almost half of small and medium-sized businesses are 'permanent non-borrowers', research finds.