Owners of family businesses are facing greater challenges than other SMEs when it comes to securing finance, according to the latest research.
Cynergy Bank has revealed that family business owners were more uncertain about the current economic outlook than non-family owned SMEs, with one in six stating it was a big challenge in comparison to just one in 10 non-family SMEs.
Relevancy was also a problem for family businesses, with almost double the amount claiming that they were struggling to stay relevant in the digital age compared with non-family managed businesses.
Around one in five family businesses also stated that attracting and retaining staff was an issue, compared with only about one in seven non-family firms.
“At a time when businesses are facing strong headwinds from economic uncertainty, family-run businesses in particular are feeling the pinch when it comes to keeping pace with the digital revolution and obtaining finance for their businesses,” said Nick Fahy, chief executive at Cynergy Bank (pictured above).
Elizabeth Bagger, director general at Institute for Family Business (IFB), added: “We welcome this report by Cynergy Bank, which reinforces our own messages and what we’ve been saying for a long time about the need to take the sector very seriously.”
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