SMEs key to COVID economic recovery in 2022

European Small Business Alliance President, David Caro, in his New Year message said “ I want to underline the key role small businesses will have in driving the COVID recovery next year, but stress that this must be recognised by the European Commission and Member States and take account of the current OMICRON challenges SME’s face when proposing new regulations.

No one could have realistically predicted a further round of restrictions would become necessary in Member States because of a new variant of COVID.

Every proposal must pay particular attention to the effect on the micro and small business sector due to their key role in supporting employment and COVID recovery in 2022. With 97% of businesses employing less than 20 and over half the private sector GDP coming from SMEs, their value and importance to the economy and the local communities, within which they are rooted, is plain to see.

Progress with the environment, following COP 26, is highly important for the planet yet it is essential that until COVID is finally nailed that great care must be taken not to make things even more difficult, during the recovery, for SMEs. With social legislation, again the same principal must apply.

The micro and small business sector can and will play a key part in the COVID economic recovery, so the legislators must hold back from adding new burdens which prevents this.”

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Who are we?

The European Small Business Alliance (ESBA) is a respected, apolitical, and influential advocate for European entrepreneurs. We are the campaigning voice for the modern European entrepreneur.

Independent. Knowledgeable. Influential. Challenging. And Loud.

Who are our members?

ESBA campaigns on behalf of a million small businesses throughout Europe, all of whom (whether they are micros, self employed, traditional family businesses, or hi-tech startups), share one very important thing in common.  They are all entrepreneurs.

What do they want?

Our members told us that they wanted an organisation that looks like them, thinks like them, talks like them, and that really understands them.

• They wanted to see innovation and creativity in the way we approach our job of representing their interests.

• They want someone to be a voice for them, to talk about their needs and their problems to the EU institutions.

• They also want an organisation to represent them in a twenty-first century way, using twenty-first century techniques.

• And finally, they said they would like to belong to a truly diverse membership, full of the young (not forgetting the young at heart), women entrepreneurs, those from minority ethnic cultures, the immigrant searching for a better life, the socially responsible environmentally conscious entrepreneur, the disabled, those who pursue modern lifestyles, and those who thirst to learn new ways to grow their business.

They told us. We listened.

What do we campaign for?

In order to improve the lives of all European entrepreneurs, ESBA regularly seeks the views of its membership and uses them to create the ‘ESBA Manifesto for Change‘. Then we campaign hard to convince government to make these changes.

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What are the benefits of membership?

We offer the help, advice, information and support that our members seek, with services based on listening to their needs and concerns. We campaign on behalf of our members using our unique ‘Manifesto for Change’, a policy stance that they help design.

But the biggest benefit our members enjoy is that we provide them with a voice where it matters, in Brussels.

An independent voice.

A voice for change.