Our Impact

Over 22,000 businesses and nearly 31,000 disadvantaged entrepreneurs have been supported by the YTKO Group over a 14-year period, enabling inclusive economic growth from start to scale, according to the findings of a new independent full economic impact evaluation of our public-funded work.

The report finds that throughout this time, YTKO’s performance on driving job creation, productivity and inclusive, diverse economy has set new benchmarks.

Bev Hurley, YTKO CEO, comments,

“We are incredibly proud of achieving this level of financial, economic and social impact during the longest period of economic uncertainty in the UK. Helping businesses grow, create jobs and improve their profitability and productivity contributes to the competitiveness of the UK economy. We’re also helping entrepreneurs of the future overcome financial and social exclusion, and therefore impacting directly on the levelling up agenda and left-behind places.

We have addressed issues around gender diversity and the under-representation of both women and BAME, pioneering a more inclusive economy. In fact, we have more women starting and growing businesses than men, in contrast to the national picture.

The delivery of our award-winning services is down to the fantastic teams of people that work at YTKO, who all have a real drive and passion to achieve the very best for our clients”

Key findings of the report include:

YTKO services directly contribute to increasing the competitiveness of the UK economy:

• We have enabled the creation of 10,305 sustainable new jobs and supported 22,508 businesses which have enjoyed substantial productivity increases as a result.
• Our work has led to the creation of 6,574 businesses with 76.3% surviving over three years (higher than the 59.1% national average).
• YTKO also raised £71.3 million in finance for the 22,508 businesses it had supported during the same period, creating 10,305 new jobs and £2.16bn in estimated sales.

Through our programmes, we are addressing financial and social exclusion in UK and therefore impacting directly on the levelling up agenda and left-behind places:

• YTKO has secured £25 million start-up loans for 30,752 entrepreneurs, from some of the most deprived wards across the UK.
• 47% of these were previously out of work, 27% with entry-level qualifications and 10% single parents

Achieving gender diversity and pioneering a more inclusive economy is a key achievement of our programmes:

• 51% of those supported by YTKO were female entrepreneurs compared to a national average of 23%
• 20% were Black, Asian and Minority Ethnicity (BAME) compared to a national average of 5%

Overall, YTKO’s performance delivered a £362 million triple bottom line impact and a ROI of £10.70 for every £1 invested.