US investment: UK small business opportunity 

It’s been a big week for the US/UK special relationship. Last night I attended a business reception to mark the historic second State Visit to the UK by the President of the United States. One after the next, I met American companies who shared the investment announcements they had made; from AI application developers to data centre builders.

The total sum of the announcements comes to £150bn. It’s a big commitment from the world’s largest companies but, as ever, the main thing on my mind was the opportunities this offers to small businesses. I think there are two main ones.

• Supply chain: a list of the investments can be seen here. With money flowing to construction, research and company expansion, this will require a multitude of small businesses to supply services from marketing to engineering, garden landscaping to HR and event production. My advice to small firms is to review the companies and announcements and make contact with your offer and pitch. When the investment starts flowing, you want to be part of it.
• Digital boost: as the President and Prime Minister hosted a joint press conference, the words ‘Tech Prosperity Deal’ were in central focus. The emphasis this week was tech and it comes at a time when government is reviewing next steps from the Digital Adoption Taskforce and Technology Adoption Review. There is so much evidence (in these reports and elsewhere) that small firms who embrace digital tools are more productive and profitable ie can get more done at lower cost – and get paid faster. My hope is that investments made by companies including Microsoft, Google, Salesforce etc will come complete with training on how small firms can best be equipped to make the most of the tech and AI opportunity. Google is already underway with this training, working with the Department for Business and Trade on a series of ‘AI Works for Business’ events which you can register for here (I’ll be speaking at Edinburgh and Cardiff events.)

With work delivered by policy makers and politicians in getting deals done and announcements made, it’s time for small businesses to step in and activate, realising all the opportunity from the week that was.