SMALL BUSINESSES COMMENT ON THE UK’S DECISION TO LEAVE THE EU

As the dust begins to settle over the EU results and the surprise resignation of David Cameron as Prime Minister, we spoke to small businesses who are overwhelmingly in shock over the decision for the UK to leave the EU. Speaking to many of our own clients at Move Digital, there is a general feeling of devastation and shell shock as they come to terms with the announcement. Only last week, our client Hitec wrote a feature for Business Zone discussing the risks of Brexit and how it would have a largely negative affect on the growth of their business.

So with the pound falling to its lowest point in over thirty years and the stock market tumbling, we hear from a handful of small businesses who warn of the long term repercussions of this historical decision and try to remain optimistic in the face of growing uncertainty.

Edward Relf, Laundrapp

‘Although not a decision I agree with personally it’s important to unite around the majority democratic decision and focus on what’s important now which is making Britain even greater! Today is truly Startup Britain and with change comes immense opportunity especially for startups like Laundrapp which need to continually evolve to survive. I am utterly shocked by the result, to the absolute core. I was glued until 3am watching the live results and still can’t quite believe we are leaving the EU, given my age I only know being part of the EU and very much consider myself European. In the cold light of day we now need to dust ourselves off, respect the decision of the majority and get on making Britain great albeit now outside of the EU. I believe this will have little overall impact on our startup (Laundrapp) and others albeit it I suspect funding for any UK startups to be much tougher over the coming months ahead until things start to settle then who knows, we’re in for an exciting time.’

Rich Pleeth, Sup

‘I’m absolutely devastated and I think this is a complete disaster for both the UK and the EU. Raising capital has now moved from really tough to near impossible. Unfortunately, the older generation voted with their hearts and not their brains and they’ve taken us back 30 years. I’m not even sure what I can tell my team, it’s really bad news for my startup. We’ve already heard of several people looking to emigrate now that Britain has left the EU, and we are seriously considering relocating the business to New York.’

Lorna Blyth, Flavour Holidays

‘As a tour operator focusing on activity-based holidays in Italy, we expect business implications to occur when working with our staff and suppliers who are based there. Combined with the uncertainty of the Euro/Pound currency rate, there are many costs to take into consideration which are based in Italy; from accommodation for our customers and staffing, to travel costs and food. As much as we’d like to react accordingly, it’s difficult to adapt when there are some uncertainties as to what is going to happen. Will we have to increase the cost of our service to cover possible rise in cost of our assets in Italy? Will our customers be happy to possibly pay extra to travel? Will they also be happy to go through possibly more red-tape when it comes to travelling? These are very real concerns for us and our customers and we are genuinely surprised at the result.’

James Blake, Hello Soda

‘Hello Soda has woken to the news that the UK has voted to leave the European Union, which may create some uncertainty for the UK business world. Despite this, we are optimistic of the potential opportunities there may be in light of the result such as the depreciation of the currency increasing our international sales potential.

We respect the votes of the whole of the United Kingdom and we look forward as an outward looking business. We will continue to seek to expand into new markets and to create jobs in a post-Brexit environment, and we believe that we are well positioned in the market to push through any short-term instability. The nature of the technology industry means that challenges and boundaries have never been less significant and we are confident the future for UK tech businesses operating internationally will remain strong.’

Post originally published on LinkedIn.