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Neena Says ‘Think Small and Make a Big Difference’

Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands Neena Gill has called for greater support for small business in the region.

As a package of measures to aid small businesses was put before the European Parliament for consideration, Neena addressed her fellow MEPs on the vital importance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for the West Midlands economy.

Neena said: “The West Midlands has the highest proportion of SMEs of any region in the UK. In the region 99.2% of our businesses employ less than 50 people."

In her speech, she outlined how small business can be helped to adapt to the modern commercial environment: "We need to protect SMEs that engage in cross–border trading. The EU has a key role to play in ensuring that SMEs have enough funding. Major issues also include access to time and resources for education, training and research.” Recently Neena worked on European legislation which aims to provide credit to companies that cannot get funding through traditional routes, and will soon steer legislation through Parliament enabling companies to recover debts they are owed by foreign companies.

Speaking from her Strasbourg office, Neena pointed out the vital importance of SMEs to economic recovery both in Europe and the West Midlands.

"Small businesses are a vital part of our economy. If we can alleviate the financial pressure on SMEs we can ensure the ongoing competitive survival of the West Midlands.”

“By thinking small we can make a big difference. Through simple measures like ensuring that money lost can be recovered we can protect small businesses. Now is the time to work on economic recovery from the bottom up.”

Neena Gill MEP is Rapporteur for the EP Legal Affairs Committee's report on the Transparency of Debtors' Assets. Other SME issues she has worked on include: Shadow Rapporteur for the Socialist Group on the Legal Affairs Committee's opinion on the Small Business Act, and Rapporteur on the Committee's opinion on microcredit.