Innovation plays a vital role in ensuring a strong and successful economy, and therefore, is hugely beneficial to the government.
Actively assisting startups and entrepreneurs should be a high priority in party manifestos, with confirmed pledges which drive forward positive change and secure economic growth.
Yet, with Labour recently taking government, there has been much discussion on tax increases which may propose a threat to the future of supportive schemes such as The Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS). The scheme which may on the surface appear as tax relief, for entrepreneurs is so much more. It is an effective and mutually beneficial investment whereby entrepreneurs get the investments they require and those who invest minimise the risk by claiming a significant percentage of their contribution back in tax relief.
Supporting startups to generate funds and act as a significant reassurance to investors, provides not only huge psychological relief to founders and entrepreneurs, but actively promotes innovation and encourages entrepreneurial mindset.
Although PushFar is now a world leading mentoring platform, it was a very different story back in 2018. At this time, PushFar was barely a product, with perhaps two clients and a total revenue of £7,000 a year, the business was only just evolving. From there, our vision was able to carry on developing and grow into the successful platform it is today due to the SEIS. We were able to raise £400,000 across two seed investments which without the scheme may not have been possible.
Finding a successful startup isn’t easy; there is a huge risk to capital invested from people’s hard-earned money, including family and friends. Striving to achieve and be successful isn’t purely for oneself, but on behalf of all those who invested. The SEIS entices many to invest who otherwise may not, as well as reducing the pressure that entrepreneurs feel towards using the capital raised from people’s savings.
Governments need to be aware that assisting innovation is in their best interest, so they too can reap the benefits long term. As the years pass, we are becoming increasingly connected globally and therefore, the prospect of taking investment from elsewhere is also becoming much more accessible.
However, by entrepreneurs taking investment from other countries, the UK will forego a proportion of the economic benefits, which in the long run could be disastrous. Although there is nothing wrong with accepting investment from overseas, for the government and the country, innovation is a highly valuable industry to invest in. It would be incredibly shortsighted to disregard its importance, especially at a time where opportunities for entrepreneurs are becoming readily available elsewhere.
