Entrepreneur and small business champion Martin McTague has called for a more powerful voice for the UK’s 5.5m small firms, which he says are the beating heart of the economy and communities across the country. The newly-appointed National Chair of the Federation of Small Businesses , says: “There has never been a more important time to make sure their interests are represented at the highest levels, as the costs and challenges of running a small business intensify. “Small firms are absolutely crucial to the economic recovery, bringing innovation and dynamism, creating jobs, growth and opportunities. They account for 60% of private sector employment in the UK and make up 99% of all businesses. But they face significant barriers which I’m determined to pull down – from growth-inhibiting tax hikes to poor treatment by big business clients. “Big businesses must become better corporate citizens with their supply chains, including when it comes to stamping out poor payment practices, reducing bureaucracy, and gifting through the Apprenticeship Levy. I want to use the opportunity as National Chair to offer advice and assistance to larger firms wanting to do the right thing and back small business. “FSB has a proud and successful track record of being a powerful voice heard in governments, opposition parties and boardrooms across the UK. As part of a new leadership team alongside Tina McKenzie; as well as Chair, Internal Affairs Melanie Ulyatt; and the rest of the Board; I’m committed to making sure small businesses are fully supported, represented, and their interests are wired into the DNA of decision-makers at all levels.”

Micro Biz Matters Day returns on 25th March featuring special guests including Bill Esterson MP, Liz Barclay, the Small Business Commissioner, and The Apprentice finalist Adam Corbally, one of Hull’s Youth Enterprise Patrons. As in previous years, the event will be sponsored by Hull City Council, the John Cracknell Youth Enterprise Bank and Hull Culture and Leisure Ltd (HC&L). Micro Biz Matters Day is a social media celebration, where over one million business owners give a little time to support each other. Messages are shared using the hashtag #MicroBizMatters on social media platforms. Hull City Council leader Daren Hale said: “As a council, we are committed to our micro business community and were pleased with the support from our micro businesses to establish our own dedicated strategy and action plan. Our commitment continues with supporting micro businesses through our Youth Enterprise and Microbusiness Team and other areas such as the BiPC Centre managed by HC&L. “We wish Hull lad Tony Robinson OBE and Tina Boden well as they step away from leading on Micro Biz Matters Day and look forward to working with Yorkshire in Business in the future, and we hope, hosting the event again.” Tony Robinson OBE, the Micro Business Champion and Chair of Yorkshire in Business, said: “It has been my mission in the last 10 years to spread the word, nationally and internationally, about the great city of Hull’s exemplary and innovative support to enterprising young people. It has been a personal highlight of Micro Biz Matters Days for me in Manchester, Hull, Preston and Scarborough to interview so many outstanding young entrepreneurs and to participate in Hull’s Global Entrepreneurship Weeks, which are world-beaters. “I’m so proud of my home city and a fan of everything you do. We cherish Hull City Council’s, the John Cracknell Youth Enterprise Bank and HC&L’s support to our eighth annual Micro Biz Matters Day and first Micro Biz Matters Festival and hope to work in partnership with you for many years to come to help all the enterprising people of Hull to start-up, survive and thrive.”

Managed IT, cloud and digital transformation specialist BCN Group, which has offices in Leeds and Bradford, has continued its expansion strategy into the healthcare sector with the acquisition of application and analytics business Public View.

Public View, is at the forefront of providing performance monitoring  and benchmarking services to the NHS underpinned by Microsoft, .Net, and Azure Cloud Platform, automatically collating data from hundreds of public data sources to create a single intuitive portal for NHS leaders. Rob Davies, CEO of BCN Group, said: “The acquisition of Public View allows us to provide existing and new clients with a complete and comprehensive suite of cloud based analytics services delivered by skilled and experienced experts. It not only complements and strengthens our existing market position offering but takes our combined capability to the next level and further establishes BCN as a key service provider across the public sector and healthcare arena. I am delighted to welcome Public View to the BCN family, and to work alongside its incredible team as we seamlessly merge its products, services and processes into the wider BCN Group.” Tom Ridgeway, Founder at Public View, said: “We have achieved great things since launching Public View to the market in 2018 and have established the business as an innovative leader in the benchmarking analytics industry.  I’m incredibly excited by about the acquisition and what it will mean to the Public View clients as we bring the combined capability of the two businesses together to continue to deliver exceptional services and outcomes to our clients.”

Calibre Search has reported revenues of £5.5 million, with a surge in early stage construction driving growth. The Leeds headquartered recruitment company specialises in the built environment, HVAC, IT and marketing and is on course to register revenues of £6.6m in 2022, a £2m increase on its 2020 turnover figure. Its Manchester staff have also moved into a new  1,461 sq ft Northern Quarter base and will introduce 10 further specialist recruiters by the end of the year. Pete Gillick, Director, Calibre Search, described the past several months as ‘the busiest period in the company’s history’, and predicted further growth in activity well into 2022 and beyond. It comes after new construction orders rose by 9.2% (£1,121m) in Q4 2021 compared with Q3 2021 – higher than the last full quarter not affected by the pandemic (Q4 2019), according to the Office for National Statistics. New orders in Q4 2021 are also at their highest level since High Speed 2 affected Q3 2017. “Part of our vision is to be the ‘go-to partner’ in the industries we service and I think we are achieving that,” said Pete. “The demand for talent that we are seeing from our large corporation and SME clients is similar to the economic boom of 2005 / 06,” said Pete. “While 2020 was tough, we bounced back very quickly. Many of our clients are at the earlier stages of construction and can’t find the right people themselves which continues to drive opportunities.” Calibre Search’s clients include the biggest names in the built environment space; with many saying they can’t respond quickly enough to big jobs, according to Pete. “It’s across the board,” he said. “We recruit for roles including engineering consultants, construction professionals, environmental scientists, architects, planners and hydrologists and are seeing more corporate activity than we’ve ever seen before. And it’s not just the private sector. “You can’t drive anywhere without seeing roadworks at the moment, housing is taking off and there’s a lot of work in flood defence. The challenge is finding the talent to fill the gaps. But we’ve never been this busy and we have a superb team and hope to recruit more of the same quality.” On Calibre’s recent move across Manchester’s Northern Quarter, from The Landmark building on back Turner Street to the newly refurbished 19th century building Nine Stephenson Square, Pete said:  “We are finding that after an initial drive of people wanting to work from home that some now want to leave the house more often. That has led us to investing in a much improved and newly refurbished office space which offers the highest quality environment when it comes to the experience of coming to work. “We will be doubling headcount from seven to at least 14 in the next 12 months and have the capacity to grow to over 20 staff in Manchester.”