Businesses, particularly micro and small businesses, have been hit hard by the Covid-19 outbreak and many are facing a sudden and dramatic drop in revenue as they struggle to sustain themselves.

Newable’s Social Impact team has developed an emergency nine-month programme, named “Small Business Resilience”, focused solely on providing support for small businesses in London during these turbulent times, in particular under-served entrepreneurs from lower-income areas. The work builds on programmes Newable has delivered since 2015, to deliver tailored business support to London-based small businesses to grow their business through access to supply chain and procurement opportunities, with support from J.P. Morgan.

“Small businesses are the backbone of some of the UK’s most vibrant communities and J.P. Morgan is committed to supporting underrepresented small business owners who are most vulnerable during this unprecedented time. Many small businesses are struggling with limited liquidity and mounting expenses right now so it’s key that they get the right support, and quickly”, said Hang Ho, Head of Global Philanthropy EMEA and LATAM, J.P. Morgan. “We’re delighted to be working with Newable to provide local relief for the small businesses that need it the most today, and will continue to invest in our communities to help them recover from the COVID-19 crisis in the future.”

SBR assists London-based small businesses to navigate through the national economic crisis by helping business owners access available supports, and modify or sustain their business processes and delivery in a climate of socio-economic uncertainty.

The programme has two main focuses: to map and coordinate business support available in London and to guide small businesses through the grant and other financial relief options and support them with transformation support via video calls and special webinars. Newable’s advisers are helping small businesses acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to sustain their businesses, effectively present propositions to grant makers and ultimately maximise resilience to manage through the crisis and into recovery.

There has already been a positive response from small businesses with hundreds signing up to the webinars and 25 clients assigned to business advisers within two weeks of launch. The programme aims to help 200 small businesses in London over nine months.

Sehri Mirza, project manager at Newable, explains: “SMEs are the heart of our economy, employing over 16.6 million people. Many small businesses were not prepared for the Covid-19 lockdown. We recognised that this crisis has created two major challenges for small businesses: cash-flow and transformation. Together with the support from J.P. Morgan, we aim to guide small businesses through this crisis and help them to survive, sustain and transform in line with changing consumer behaviours.”

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