Disabled entrepreneurs face significant barriers to grow businesses – report

Disabled entrepreneurs face “significant barriers” to start and grow a business, according to a new report.

Major systemic changes are needed to make UK entrepreneurship more equitable, accessible, and inclusive for disabled founders, according to Small Business Britain.

A survey of 500 disabled business people by the organisation revealed an abundance of skill and ambition, but hurdles were holding founders back, including higher start-up costs, challenges accessing funding and support, as well as a lack of credit by wider society.

Michelle Ovens, the founder of Small Business Britain said: “We urgently need to make sure that support gets to all entrepreneurs to deliver on the return to growth the economy so urgently needs.

“These entrepreneurs have rightly called out the barriers in place to their progress that come from even the smallest detail – the contrast of a website, the density of text, through to the need to attend in person.

“We need to do far more to level the playing field, and ensure the thriving entrepreneurial spirit seen across the disabled entrepreneurship community is empowered, supported, and maximised.”

David Oldfield, of Lloyds Bank, which supported the report, said: “With a quarter of all entrepreneurs estimated to have a disability or neurodiverse condition, it’s clear why it is so important we do more to create systemic change in collaboration with our external partners, industry bodies and government.”