Filmed at ACCA's 3rd annual Alternative Finance Conference, Emma Jones, founder of Enterprise Nation, discusses her experience of what investors look for. In conversation with ACCA’s head of technical advisory Glenn Collins, Emma explores how SMEs are engaging (or not) with new forms of finance and how companies can use their intellectual property to access finance.
Following a degree in Law and Japanese, Emma joined international accounting firm Arthur Andersen, where she worked in London, Leeds and Manchester offices and set up the firm’s Inward Investment practice that attracted overseas companies to locate in the UK. In 2000, bitten by the dot.com bug, Emma left the firm to start her first business, Techlocate – after 15 months, the company was successfully sold to Tenon plc.
The experience of starting, growing and selling a business from a home base gave Emma the idea for Enterprise Nation which was launched in 2006 as the home business website. The company has since expanded to become a small business community of over 75,000 people who benefit from business books, events and funding: online, in print and in person.
Enterprise Nation also presents a campaigning voice to government and the media on behalf of its members.
Emma regularly appears in the media commenting on small business issues. In March 2011 Emma was one of 8 co-founders to launch StartUp Britain, the national campaign to encourage more people to start a business and support existing businesses to grow.
In June 2012 Emma was awarded an MBE for Services to Enterprise.
In August 2014 Emma was appointed Chair of Plotr.co.uk a digital careers platform to help young people discover their future, with self-employment increasingly being chosen as an ideal career option. Emma is also the best-selling author of the business books Spare Room StartUp, Working 5 to 9, Go Global, The StartUp Kit and Turn Your Talent Into a Business.