Next Friday is the last day to nominate someone for the latest wave of UK honours. Twelve days after that, HM Treasury’s Budget representation portal closes. We’ve been asked to spread the word on both, so consider this the week we’re doling out homework.
On Thursday we — and some of you reading this — were on a call with the honours team at the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST). We’ve bemoaned the shortage of entrepreneurs on the list for years, and in Honours for Innovators, Anton Howes and Ned Donovan went further and proposed building a new order of chivalry from scratch — the Elizabethan Order. Short of getting that built, we’ve decided to stop complaining and help out.
The honours committees can only pick from those who are nominated, and they have some first-rate members. Driving up nominations will drive up competition, and with it the number of entrepreneurs, innovators and ecosystem builders who receive recognition.
So have a think about someone you know whose achievements merit recognition, and submit a nomination. The deadline is a week today. While you’re at it, the King’s Awards for Enterprise Young Founder category we flagged a fortnight ago closes on 8 September.
If you’d like to sit in on future meetings with the honours team, join us (for free) as a Member so we know how to contact you.
We flagged the Budget representation portal three weeks ago, when John Healey — who has incidentally just joined LinkedIn in case you want to give him a follow — confirmed 28 October as the big day. The portal closes on 9 September. From conversations I’ve had over the last week, it seems founders still assume representations are something that can only be done on their behalf by trade associations. Anyone can submit, individuals included, though the Treasury asks that submissions address effectiveness and value for money, revenue implications, how the measure supports growth and wider macroeconomic effects.
Four things separate a submission that gets read from one that doesn’t. First, cost it. If you can’t produce a number, say what the number depends on and give a range. Second, pick one thing. Submissions are triaged by policy area, so a document containing six vague, unrelated ideas will be routed to nobody.
Third, match the Government’s objective where you can. This Budget has an explicit frame — moving money and power out of Westminster — and a submission that explains how your measure delivers it stands a better chance of being taken up. (Though there’s no point hammering a corporation tax cut into a devolution-shaped hole.)
Fourth, use your own firm as the evidence. You know what a policy actually did to a real company’s hiring, pricing or investment decisions. Two paragraphs of specific operational detail carry more weight than a page of citations. Say what you do, how many people you employ and where.
Submit your own representation directly to HM Treasury — and if you would like to share it with us for consideration in our submission, send it over.
We’ve launched a new Network Effects interview series on the female founders building high-growth businesses in Britain, and what the system does and doesn’t do for them. It runs in partnership with the Jessica Vollman Foundation, set up in her memory. Jessica was a CEO, founder and tireless advocate for women in entrepreneurship.
Three are out now. In Skin in the Game, Ahana Banerjee on sending 200 funding applications for one non-rejection, and what her own records revealed about who actually backed her. In Plain Sight follows Grace Almendras-Castillo, who sold her Toronto healthtech business and started again in a country where she knew one person. And in On Call, Amber Vodegel on bootstrapping Pregnancy+ — later sold to Philips — without knowing grants or investment existed.
The City Quantum & AI Summit, founded by our Adviser Karina Robinson, returns to Mansion House on 7 October. It brings together financial services, venture capital, deeptech and defence, and between its C-suite panellists and an overriding principle of “no lingo, no jargon, plain English only” it’s a superb networking and learning opportunity. Details and booking here.
Does data protection compliance shape what your business actually does? The Computer & Communications Industry Association has commissioned Freshwater Strategy to find out not just what compliance costs, but what it stops. If you’ve delayed a product, scaled back a data or AI project, changed supplier or decided against an investment because of the UK’s data protection rules, they’d like to hear from you. It takes 8–10 minutes, responses are confidential, and findings go to the Government’s review of the UK data protection framework later this year. Complete the survey here, and contact Matthew Lesh with any questions.
BIST has also asked us to share this. The UK-India Free Trade Agreement has been in force since 15 July. If you export goods to India, the first practical step is registering on HM Revenue and Customs’ authentication portal — without it your origin declarations will be rejected and your Indian importer won’t be able to claim preferential tariffs.
BIST is running webinars on the process, bookable through the Business Academy. Sign up beforehand and you’ll get the recording even if you can’t attend; sessions are later added to the on-demand library. Guides covering tariffs, rules of origin, government procurement and individual sectors are on the India market page. If you’re already seeing tariff savings, smoother customs or new contracts, BIST would like to hear about it. If instead you’re running into barriers, report them, so they can be raised with the Indian authorities.
We’re delighted to welcome Jonathan Hollis as an Adviser. Jonathan is Managing Partner of Mountside Ventures — an advisory firm that helps founders and funds raise money, including through a fundraising accelerator that’s free to join and takes no equity. Before striking out on his own three years ago, Jonathan co-founded PwC’s early-stage corporate finance practice and Series A accelerator, whose alumni have gone on to raise more than £500 million at a combined £3 billion valuation.
On why he’s joined us, Jonathan wants “to share some of those insights and help feed into policy to increase the number of successful entrepreneurs… and champion one of the most important groups in accelerating the UK’s growth.” Maybe you do too. If so, book a call with me.
APPG for Entrepreneurship: Evidence Session on NEETs
🗓 Wednesday, 26 August 2026
🕐 14:00 to 15:00
📍 Online
ℹ️ An evidence session for the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Entrepreneurship, on how founders and the third sector can support those “Not in Education, Employment or Training” (NEETs) into work and what is needed from the Government
⏩ Request a place
No Agenda Breakfast: Talking Tables
🗓 Thursday, 27 August 2026
🕐 08:45 to 10:00
📍 Stockwell, London
ℹ️ Join us for coffee, pastries and honest conversation with a dozen entrepreneurs — no agenda, no pitches and no panels
⏩ Request a place
APPG Evidence Session: Entrepreneurship in Financially Excluded Communities
🗓 Wednesday, 2 September 2026
🕐 17:00 to 18:00
📍 Online
ℹ️ An evidence session for the APPG for Entrepreneurship, on how the UK can better support entrepreneurs from financially excluded communities — chaired by Lord Kamall
⏩ Request a place
No Agenda Breakfast: Evelyn Partners
🗓 Wednesday, 9 September 2026
🕐 08:45 to 10:00
📍 The City, London
ℹ️ Join us for coffee, pastries and honest conversation with a dozen entrepreneurs — no agenda, no pitches and no panels
⏩ Request a place
Quarterly Adviser Roundtable: UCL School of Management
🗓 Tuesday, 15 September 2026
🕐 10:00 to 11:30
📍 Canary Wharf, London
ℹ️ Our quarterly roundtable for Advisers and Patrons of The Entrepreneurs Network
⏩ Request a place
Job Creators 2026 Report Launch
🗓 Wednesday, 16 September 2026
🕐 15:30 to 17:30
📍 The City, London
ℹ️ Join us at Penningtons Manches Cooper to celebrate the contribution of Britain’s foreign-born founders
⏩ Request a place
The Government ran an unexpected deficit of £1.8 billion in July
Increasing AI adoption may be behind improved productivity growth in the second quarter (Paywall — Financial Times)
Jim O’Neill has declined a job in Andy Burnham’s Government
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds outlined his vision for growth and reindustrialisation, with an emphasis on advanced manufacturing, defence and clean energy
Andy Haldane called for a moratorium on tax rises and new regulatory burdens for the rest of this Parliament (Paywall — Financial Times)
Stephen Bush argued that cost-of-living packages of subsidies do not solve the root cause of the cost-of-living crisis (Paywall — Financial Times)
The Federation of Small Businesses warned that SMEs are being left behind by the UK’s skills system
Startup Coalition detailed how the Government could back British tech startups with procurement
Pressure is mounting on the Government to change non-compete rules
Research organisations have written a joint letter to UKRI, urging it to reform eligibility rules
Séb Krier published an essay on AI safety in a multi-agent world
The British Chambers of Commerce argues that successive governments have piled costs on British business
Ed Hezlet published a report arguing that nuclear energy and electrification can cut electricity bills and emissions
The Guardian is looking to hear from Gen Z entrepreneurs who have started a business
Our Supporters, Advisers and Strategic Partners are essential to helping us understand what entrepreneurs need to flourish, and are closely connected with our work. If you already support us — thank you. If you don’t, please consider helping us make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a business.
State of Asian Funding UK Report Survey
🗓 Friday, 21 August 2026
ℹ️ The second annual report by The Bae HQ into the funding landscape and attitudes among founders of Asian heritage in the UK, to be released in Parliament
⏩ Find out more
The UK ScaleUp Funding Forum
🗓 Tuesday, 22 September 2026
🕐 14:00 to 19:00
📍 London
ℹ️ A half-day from VenturePath with funding providers and exited entrepreneurs, focused on finding the right funding route
⏩ Find out more
We’re often asked where founders should turn for practical support beyond policy. So we’ve curated a list of government sites and trusted organisations we regularly recommend. Each week, we share a section from our Support for UK Entrepreneurs page. Are we missing something? Let us know.
Enterprise Nation provides online communities, events and learning for small business owners.
Helm provides a founder network exclusively for scale-up founders and CEOs of companies over £2 million revenue with 20 or more employees, offering peer learning, events and mentoring support.
Best wishes,
Philip
Philip Salter
Founder
The Entrepreneurs Network
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