Festival of Business 2014 launches today

Medium-sized businesses, with revenues of £5m-£250m, are the backbone of our economy. There are 34,100 of them in the UK, compared to 1.1m small businesses and 3,180 large companies, yet they contribute a mighty £300bn to the economy - equivalent to the UK’s entire financial services and real estate sectors combined. Mid-market firms are also the UK economy’s primary agents of growth; between 2007 and 2012 mid-sized firms grew 5.4pc, compared with 0.7pc for SMEs and 2.4pc for large companies.

The Festival of Business, which will take place in London on Tuesday November 11th, is a celebration of the vital role these firms play in generating economic growth. It offers practical support, advice and inspiration. Free to attend, delegates will hear from prominent business leaders, successful entrepreneurs, senior politcial figures and leading economists; the event combines keynote addresses and informal coversations with panel discussions, offering invaluable networking opportunities and access to key figures in the business world.

Exporting will be a key theme of the conference as firms face up to the Government’s challenge of doubling sales to overseas markets to £1trn by 2020, especially in emerging parts of the global economy.

With a general election year less than a year away, acclaimed economist Roger Bootle, a Telegraph columnist and winner of the prestigious Wolfson Prize, will advise companies on the headwinds facing the UK economy and the macro-trends they can exploit to grow their business. Among the successful entrepreneurs dispensing practical tips from their own experiences of setting up companies will be Angus Thirlwell, founder of Hotel Chocolat, and Thea Green, founder of Nails Inc, while James Meekings, who set up Funding Circle, will provide unique insight into raising finance to grow your company.

Details of further speakers will be announced in coming weeks, together with the launch of a new Telegraph business award.

Applications are now open to attend the Festival of Business at the Brewery, near the Barbican; to attend, you must be the owner or senior director of a fast-growing business with a turnover between £5m and £250m.

The Telegraph is committed to supporting what CBI director-general John Cridland calls the “forgotten army” of medium-sized businesses leading the economic recovery. The UK’s mid-market sector is currently outpacing growth in most other European markets.

The average UK medium-sized business is set to grow sales by 6.1pc in the next 12 months, compared to 4.8pc in Germany, 3.4pc in France and 3.8pc in Italy. This equates to projected UK mid-market revenue growth of £133bn in the next 12 months. In addition, over the next year an estimated 326,000 jobs are set to be created by mid-market companies in the UK compared to 150,000 in Germany.

Just as Germany has its Mittelstand - its historically successful mid-market sector - so the UK needs to allow its own mid-sized companies to flourish by simplifying taxes, boosting export trade finance and removing unecessary regulation.

With its unrivalled coverage of British enterprise, the Telegraph is committed to keeping the engine of our economy running.

Register for your place at the Festival of Business 2014 using the form below.

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