We’ve been helping small business leaders boost their productivity since 2017.
“This is a chance we can’t miss: for every business to raise its game and transform our competitiveness as a nation. We’re building a productivity movement, and it's a privilege to play a part in it”
Anthony Impey, Be the Business CEO
The story so far
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2015 – Prime Minister David Cameron asks Sir Charlie Mayfield and Sir Richard Lambert to review the UK’s productivity challenges. They create the Productivity Leadership Group and start a 12-month, UK-wide review.
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2017 – Based on the review’s findings, Be the Business is founded to help small business leaders improve performance through productivity.
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2018 – Our first fully-funded programme, Productivity through People, launches in collaboration with UK universities.
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2019 – We onboard the first small businesses to our Boards Programme and host our first Be the Business Festival. We took our Be the Business bus down to Cornwall.
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2020 – We launch Rebuild to help small businesses recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Anthony Impey MBE becomes our CEO.
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2021 – We publish our first Productive Business Index with Oxford Economics, tracking changes in UK small business performance and capabilities. Our partnership with Mastercard for the Strive programme began.
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2022 – The second Be the Business Festival brings 200+ small business leaders to Leeds for expert-led discussions and networking. The Construction Productivity Taskforce is founded with top UK construction companies.
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2023 – We publish our G7 Productive Business Index to compare small business performance, and pilot our Productivity Programme.
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2024 – Our programme participants increase productivity by over £500m. We launch our Be the Business Manifesto at the Houses of Parliament.
Our partners
Working with big & small businesses
A list of logo's from the following companies: Accenture, Amazon, Bae Systems, Cisco, KPMG, Lloyds, and McKinsey & Company.
Boost your business
Leaders, walk this way
Our Productivity Programme gives you a personal advisory board, 1-to-1 expert mentoring and peer-learning sessions for six months.
We’ve worked with over 16,000 small business leaders since 2017, and 80% have made key changes with our help.
Partner with us
We work with organisations that put small business productivity first.
Be part of it
We’re looking for industry leaders and business experts to support our mission.