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Small Business?

Big Impact 
While EdinburghÕs major players might bring success on a large scale, Edinburgh is also a city of small business success Ð a vital ingredient to wider economic success. 



H

ow many people know that in Edinburgh there are 14,500 small and medium enterprises, representing 90% of the cityÕs total enterprises?  Also it may not be well known that these small businesses employ over 87,000 people, nearly 36% of the cityÕs workforce or that these SMEs generate a combined annual turnover of £8.2bn Ð a staggering 43.9% of EdinburghÕs total GDP. 
It is not just in Edinburgh where SMEs play such an irreplaceable part in the economy Ð all over Scotland more than one million people, over 53% of the private sector workforce, are directly employed by small businesses. They produce over 38% of ScotlandÕs business turnover and in so doing make a huge contribution to ScotlandÕs economic performance. The SME success story is replicated the length and breadth of the UK. 

Helping small 
business grow

Since its inception over 40 years ago, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has been working to protect and promote the interests of small businesses across the UK. Regional offices and local branches offer specialist staff and volunteer members, to campaign and lobby locally, regionally, nationally, across the UK and in Europe for a social, economic and political environment in which small businesses can grow and prosper. Such a business environment has to recognise fully the significant legislative, financial and operational burdens that are all too frequently imposed upon small businesses, especially in their formative years, often due to their unique size. 


Working for the city 

It is at a local level where the FSBÕs lobbying strength is perhaps most evident in helping to address the many varied business issues and difficulties members are faced with on an almost daily basis. 
In Edinburgh, where a membership approaching 2,600 makes the branch the fifth largest in the UK, the FSB has built up very strong personal links with local MPs, MSPs, City Leaders,