Startacus takes a look at Small Business Saturday

by Startacus Admin

Startacus takes a look at Small Business Saturday...

While December may seem for some of us a little way off still, we thought it only right to at least bang the drum about this well meaning and potentially very profitable initiative - the initiative as the title may suggest, being Small Business Saturday which happens on the 7th December.

So what's Small Business Saturday about when it’s at home?

Well, Small Business Saturday is a US grassroots movement that focuses on promoting and encouraging "you the people" to buy local and from said local small businesses. Just to save me typing it again, SBS (as it shall now be known) has been brought here to encourage, as you would imagine more of the same.

Now before you all pooh-pooh said SBS as being just a big old and rather good PR opportunity only, stop there. Last year in the States, the campaign created $3.5 billion (yep billion!) for American small businesses and consequently for the US local economy. Admittedly, we ain't too sure how they got to those figures or how it was measured, but even so, that is a staggering amount of dollar being spent to support the small and local business market.

So what about the 7th December?

Well at Startacus we love all the big and small ideas that could potentially get the economy and small business community thriving - "thriving" being an ideal for all of us, I am sure. But in this tough economy, surviving will still do. Startacus has previously featured initiatives such as Sherston - The Pop up Village and We Are the Million - the crowdfunding platform for local small businesses in London and so we’re happy to give a little bit of PR to this campaign too that could become a permanent fixture in the small business calendar.

Why?

Well, if you look around you, your local industrial estates and your local high street, the chances are you're still looking at quite a few "to let" and "for sale" signs. Put simply, the small business sector, the local traders, the makers and crafters, need your pennies, pounds and credit cards to be spent on them and their businesses in order to survive. The small business sector iws extremely important to both the jobs market and the overall economy and yet, do we collectively do enough to support those who take that personal risk to start and sustain a local business?

Admittedly, I write this article from an out of town coffee shop with free parking, and good wi-fi, but we all need to take a look (ourselves, councils, governments) at what we can do to make local and small business trading as convenient and cost effective too.

However, as a mindset, we would like to support and congratulate first Chuka Umunna - The Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills in bringing the initiative over and the likes of Ingenious Britain and the Federation of Small Businesses for getting involved.

The small detail, as you can imagine, (December being a little way away still!) on how everyone can get fully involved is still to be made clear and therefore we’ll report back closer to the time with a more detailed post on the 'Things going on' on the 7th December and beyond.

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Published on: 3rd September 2013