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Family businesses at the heart of UK enterprise

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New research shows that family businesses sit right at the heart of the UK economy. The study, conducted by Tenon Forum, showed that almost 60% of UK business people involve a family member in their business in some capacity.

8% of business owners questioned had family members working for free within the business, with 6% gaining professional advice from family members.

One third of all small business bosses run their businesses with their partner or spouse

Oft-cited advice that you should never work with the "other half" also seems to be a ignored in many cases, with one third of all small business bosses running their businesses with their partner or spouse. A further 25% run their businesses with parents or siblings.

The Tenon study also revealed some interesting differences between entrepreneurs based in the South and North - just 9% of entrepreneurs based in London and the South East created their enterprises from scratch, whereas 27% of entrepreneurs in the North West, North East and Yorkshire inherited their businesses.

The larger the company, the less likely it is to have family involved; only 18% of those firms with a £20m+ turnover have family involved compared to 69 per cent of sub £1m businesses. Family firms proliferate most in the agriculture, mining and fishery sectors.

Posted October 9, 2007
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