This week the Government gave two encouraging nods to entrepreneurship. On Tuesday, it was announced that Emma Jones CBE, founder of Enterprise Nation, will become the new Small Business Commissioner to help tackle late payments. And yesterday, news broke that Alex Depledge MBE, founder of Resi, will become the Treasury’s first entrepreneurship adviser. Following in the successful footsteps of Matt Clifford CBE, who we just found out is standing down as the Prime Minister’s Adviser on AI Opportunities, it begs the question: what can entrepreneurs bring to government?
One project I think about a lot – and wrote about in our latest Three Big Ideas Substack fortnightly series – is the creation of GOV.UK. Martha Lane Fox laid the groundwork with her influential 2010 report Directgov 2010 and Beyond, which called for a single, user-focused government website and a dedicated digital team to build it. Her recommendations led to the creation of the Government Digital Service (GDS) under the political backing of Lord Maude, with design and delivery led by technologists like Mike Bracken.
In its first few years, the GDS quickly gained a reputation as a global trailblazer in government digital transformation. By 2016, we topped the United Nations E‑Government Development Index. It also saved money. Between 2011–2016, GDS reported £1.3 billion in cost savings through tighter IT spend controls and the use of common digital platforms, such as the G-Cloud procurement and the Digital Services Framework for SMEs. The UK also co-founded the Digital Nations coalition in 2014, hosting the first summit of leading digital governments to reinforce our position as a digital world leader.
You don’t need me to tell you that we no longer lead in this area – otherwise I wouldn’t have to keep writing about why we should emulate Estonia – but this isn’t the fault of any of the entrepreneurs and technologists who built the system. If we had kept innovators at the heart of the system, we could be the envy of the world, competing with the likes of Denmark, Estonia, Singapore and South Korea.
So what do entrepreneurs, investors and innovators need to be successful in government?
First and foremost, they need the skills to deliver. There is a material difference between the likes of Dame Kate Bingham, who was instrumental in the success of the Vaccine Taskforce, and Sir Alan Sugar, who achieved very little as Enterprise Champion under Gordon Brown and David Cameron.
But that’s not enough. Entrepreneurs coming into government also need high-level political backing with real powers – even brilliant innovators will struggle if political leaders are not willing to enact bold recommendations that outsiders might suggest, or if they face constantly changing priorities.
Those coming into government also need clearly defined missions and measurable goals. It’s important to garner some short-term wins to build momentum, and to find a way to both impose a culture of delivery, while not ruffling so many feathers that they can’t achieve their objectives. Diego Piacentini, the orchestrator of Italy’s digital transformation, cautions about complaining too much.
What You Really Want
As many of you know, we tested out your willingness to respond to surveys with Public First. I’m delighted that one email (and a bit of coaxing here) was enough to hit a healthy sample of founder-led businesses. If you want to find out the policies that matter most to entrepreneurs, join us on Wednesday for our launch event. You’ll hear from the Financial Times’ Jonathan Moules and Public First’s Rachel Wolf. And get in touch with me if you want to partner with us on our next survey.
Down for Business
As part of its efforts to understand the startup business and entrepreneur support activity in the UK, the Centre for Entrepreneurs is leading on a survey of their own, which we, alongside a few other organisations, are supporting. It is intended for any startup business organisation in the UK to complete quickly and simply. Find out more here.
Young Guns
Sticking on the theme of surveys, we have also opened one up specifically to gauge the views of younger founders as part of our Young Entrepreneurs Forum. If you’re a young founder and want to make your voice heard on what it’s like to build a business in Britain today, please consider filling it out. You may be featured in the final report which will be launched in the House of Lords later in the year.