BE ON YOUR GUARD WARNING
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YOUNG managers and small operators, alike, should be on guard, for they face being "severely threatened from outside."
That was the warning given by Lord Seebohm, chairman of a corporation which helps finance the start of a company and small companies generally. In his annual review of the Industrial and Commercial Finance Corporation Ltd (ICFC), Lord Seebohm said ICFC had provided £31.3 million for Britain's smaller business sector, in loans and shares, plant purchase and leasing. He said: "Historically, the entrepreneau has been able to fund some of his new venture from his private savings, often supported by friends and relatives.
"Owing primarily to high taxation and partly to inflation, this young manager can no longer save on a scale that warrants such risk-taking or, indeed, provides the sums usually required."
In 1976/77, about 78 per cent of ICFC's customers required sums of less than £100,000.