Who Is Franck Petitgas, The New Small Enterprise Council Host? 

Rishi Sunak has appointed his Particular Advisor on Enterprise & Funding, Franck Petitgas, to sit down on the newly-created Small Enterprise Council.

Alongside the Minister for Enterprise, Markets & Small Enterprise, Kevin Hollinrake, Petitgas will attend a quarterly assembly to debate particular points impacting the UK’s SME group, in collaboration with small enterprise representatives.

After years of chaos for small companies, the function is meant to make sure their voices are represented inside the authorities. So who’s the brand new council host, and what’s going to he do for UK SMEs?

Who’s Franck Petitgas?

French worldwide Franck Petitgas is former world co-head of funding banking at Morgan Stanley. Petitgas beforehand oversaw the financial institution’s worldwide operations outdoors the US whereas primarily based in London.

Earlier than his retirement in November 2022, Petitgas, who additionally holds the Légion d’honneur, France’s highest civil and navy award, had labored on the US funding financial institution for a powerful 30-year run.

He was appointed because the PM’s Particular Advisor in April final yr, after a authorities shake-up of the Division of Enterprise, Vitality and Industrial Technique.

The brand new place was created to spice up enterprise funding and support financial restoration following a fast rise of inflation to 11%, which has since halved to 4.4%.

Petitgas took over the place from Boris Johnson’s advisor, Alex Hickman, who stepped down from the function in 2020.

Saying the creation of the brand new council on LinkedIn, Sunak stated he had “ a particular message for every one among you who’ve made the sacrifices crucial to begin your individual enterprise. I would like you to know we’re backing you all the best way.”

What is going to Franck Petitgas do for small companies?

The creation of the brand new Small Enterprise Council was welcomed by SME homeowners on LinkedIn. Small corporations have been grappling with numerous points together with rising vitality payments and enterprise charges, confusion over tax cuts, and labour shortages.

In a authorities press launch, Sunak stated: “Coming from a small enterprise household, I understand how integral enterprise is to communities and the broader financial system. That’s why I’m getting companies in for a daily replace on how properly we’re doing in delivering for enterprise – straight from the store flooring.”

The latter is one space the brand new council co-host will possible give attention to. Reportedly, Petitgas has beforehand centered on getting extra Brits into the workforce throughout conferences with executives.

Labour market figures from the Workplace for Nationwide Statistics (ONS) present {that a} report variety of persons are out of labor as a consequence of long-term sick depart, exacerbating the prevailing expertise disaster.

Final yr, Bloomberg reported that Petitgas supposed to cut back the variety of inactive staff by about 20% through the use of versatile work preparations to supply extra employment alternatives for susceptible or out-of-work people.

The federal government has backed these plans with the creation of two new insurance policies designed to allow distant work and supply extra worker protections: the Versatile Working Invoice and the Predictable Working Hours Invoice.