Enterprise Nation's new £2m platform generates hundreds of business interactions in first month

• 146 business reviews conducted

• 103,628 page views from SMEs

• 2,318 website searches conducted

Enterprise Nation's dynamic new advice platform has generated hundreds of business interactions in its first month, it has been announced today/Thursday May 3.

The £2m tech-enabled platform, built with support from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW), has already shown promising signs that SMEs are embracing its new advice-on-demand model after a soft launch last month.

In four weeks, the site has seen a developing trend for firms generating service requests to fellow businesses or advisers, with thousands of searches and more than 100,000 page views.

Top searches include 'export', 'GDPR', 'manifesto', 'social media', 'SEO', 'accountant' and 'web design'.

Initial advice options for budding entrepreneur members include a free consultation and advice with priced packages starting at £99. Already 167 advisers have generated new advice offers to help SMEs grow.

Emma Jones, founder of Enterprise Nation, said: "It's early days, and we've done very little to promote the new site, and yet businesses are already diving straight in to find advice, hook up with fellow founders to exchange ideas and experience. It is just wonderful.

"We are committed to developing and delivering a new, more dynamic way of providing business support to the five million small businesses that operate in the UK. We've made a good start - and to see it this active in such a short space of time suggests we're hitting the right spot.

"We aimed from the outset to build a platform that will ensure every small business in the UK can get access to world-leading support on demand in a form that's convenient and affordable for them, we are delighted to say that we're already making progress on this vision."

As part of the new platform, small firms can find out how fit their firm is for business and find specific advice based on the results to fill in gaps in their knowledge.

According to Enterprise Nation's own research, more than half of firms that take advice see a significant increase in profits, with more than a quarter putting the direct uplift in turnover between £6,000 and £20,000.

Another 27 per cent said advice had added between £1,000 and £5,000 in turnover, with 75 per cent saying it had been 'very useful'.

As the platform moves forward, it expects to develop new services including an adviser blogging portal and sector-specific founder groups to help encourage the sharing of knowledge.

Web design adviser and founder of Rocketship WP, Jamie Hewitt is an early adopter of Enterprise Nation's new platform features.  He said: "The new adviser platform is a fantastic new addition to the Enterprise Nation toolkit. Almost immediately after the launch I had a new prospect contact me about my services.

"Setting up my adviser account took a matter of minutes. The email notifications are also intuitive and the platform makes it very easy to respond to enquiries in a timely manner.

"One of the best things has been my ability to showcase collaborative work with Enterprise Nation as it really helps to engender trust with potential new clients by illustrating my breadth of skills.

"All in all, it's very clever, well thought out, and perfectly sums up the Enterprise Nation ethos: savy support to build your business skills, build your network of business contacts, and build your business's bottom line - all at the same time."

ENDS

For more details contact or to arrange an interview call Liz Slee  on 07540 060112 or email liz@enterprisenation.com

About Enterprise Nation

Enterprise Nation is a small business network and business support provider. Its aim is to help people turn their good ideas into great businesses - through expert advice, events, acceleration, diagnostics and networking. Enterprise Nation was founded in 2005 by Emma Jones MBE , also co-founder of national enterprise campaign StartUp Britain. She is author of best-selling business books including Spare Room Startup, Working 5 to 9, Go Global, Start a Business for £99 and the StartUp Kit, Going for Growth.  In 2016 she was announced as the Government's Trade Ambassador. In 2017 the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) announced it was to collaborate with Enterprise Nation to start building a world-leading adviser platform.  In 2018, Richard Harpin, the entrepreneur behind global home emergency repair firm Homeserve, invested in the company as part of a drive to create a 'more entrepreneurial Britain.'

About ICAEW

ICAEW's Business Advice Service helps businesses to draw on the expertise of leading financial experts to discuss a range of topics including a business financial healthcheck or assistance with preparing a business plan. It's an easy way to access specialist guidance and reassurance. Start today with a free straightforward, open discussion with an ICAEW Chartered Accountant. There's no catch, no obligation and no charge for your first session - just practical thinking to help your business succeed. Go to ICAEW Business Advice Service

There are over 1.7m chartered accountants around the world - talented, ethical and committed professionals who use their expertise to ensure we have a successful and sustainable future. Over 149,000 of these are ICAEW Chartered Accountants. We train, develop and support each one of them so that they have the knowledge and values to help build local and global economies that are sustainable, accountable and fair.  We've been at the heart of the accountancy profession since we were founded in 1880 to ensure trust in business. We share our knowledge and insight with governments, regulators and business leaders worldwide as we believe accountancy is a force for positive economic change across the world.