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.

News

Smart meters ‘will help firms’

Small businesses will benefit from greater control of their energy usage from government plans to introduce smart meters.

Blog

Banking on a pension

Put yourself in Sir Fred Goodwin's shoes.

Business management

Relocate to Scotland

With its dwindling North Sea reserves and national GDP contracting faster than the UK average, Scotland looks set for a rough ride. Encouragingly, the entrepreneurs living and working there have a different take on the situation.

Legal advice

Return of company property

An employee has left the business and refuses to return a company laptop. How can we recover it?

Business management

Rising Star: Matt Stockdale

After being made redundant, Matt Stockdale developed his oven cleaning product into a successful company called HomePride with a turnover of more than £4 million.

Small Business Banking

Loans scheme for start-ups falls flat

Last month the government launched a finance package to help struggling small businesses access bank loans, but SMEs say they aren’t seeing the benefits.

Legal advice

Redundancy of TUPE Staff

I took on an employee under TUPE in April 08 but work has since dropped off. Can I legally make him redundant?

Accounting

Ten recession-beating tips

In these uncertain times it’s important to keep your cool and make the right decisions.

News

More flexible working will be demanded by women

More women want a job which fits into looking after their families and are making a 'massive call for change' in working practices, a source predicts.

Business Ideas & Planning

Starting an aquatic shop

I'm thinking about setting up an aquatic shop, but don't really know where to start? I need step by step type of advice, for what I should be looking into.

Finding and selling to customers

Retaining and developing existing customers

In the effort to win new business, it's often easy to forget what a significant revenue stream existing customers can be.

Business Loans

Loans for business abroad

Can anyone provide some information on getting a loan in the UK for a business abroad, in particular South Africa. How do you go about it and which companies / banks provide these loans?

Ben Lobel

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