This week, Dr Fragkiskos Filippaios has been interviewed by BBC South East Today and BBC Radio Kent about economic investment and growth in Kent. Dr Filippaios is an expert in international business at Kent Business School, University of Kent.
Kent County Council has managed to secure £40m from the Regional Growth Fund to boost the economic growth in the region. A significant proportion of that, £35m, will go towards offering zero interest loans to new and exciting businesses that will create new jobs in the region. The remaining £5m will go towards the development of the fast rail link between Ashford and Ramsgate. Kent County Council expects that the scheme will create an additional 5,000 jobs in the local economy and preliminary data show that this is an achievable target. The initiative is complemented by a big marketing campaign that showcases Kent as an attractive investment location.
Dr Filippaios makes the following comment:
“The ‘Grow for it’ initiative comes at a crucial time for economic growth both at the regional as well as the national level and has the potential to succeed. Three reasons support this prediction.
First, the scheme is addressing one of the key constraints that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are facing not just locally but also nationally. Access to finance is a significant barrier for a lot of entrepreneurs and other small and medium enterprises.
The region has gone through a period of significant investment in infrastructure. The high speed rail link to London, the KLM flights out of Manston airport starting on the 2nd of April, the channel crossing, the Discovery Park and of course the high quality educational and training providers such as the University of Kent guarantee the succesful support of businesses locating in the region. The region could transform itself to one of the key exit points for reaching European markets.
The scheme, apart from the £35m offered in the form of zero interest loans to new and existing businesses, also offers a significant network of support mechanisms of mentoring and coaching entrepreneurs towards establishing succesful and sustainable businesses.”
You can listen Dr Fragkiskos Filippaios, Kent Business School, interview on BBC South East Today and also his interview on BBC Radio Kent – Breakfast with John Warnett and Clare McDonnell, 29/11/2012 http://bbc.in/TnzmLX (2hrs 8mins into the programme)
Dr Fragkiskos Filippaios
Dr Filippaios contributes to Kent Business School’s undergraduate, postgraduate and executive teaching as well as to the design of new programmes. He also acts as a reviewer for various international journals, is an Association of MBAs Accreditation panel member and also an active member of the Academy of International Business and the European and International Business Academy.
His previous expert comments include:
27 September 2012: Is the UK returning to growth?
27 July 2012: How will the Olympics benefit Britain?
7 June 2012: Andrew Tyrie ‘calls for Greece to quit euro’
24 May 2012: Will Greece leave the euro?
February 2012: Dr Filippaios appeared on Cross Talk with RT News discussing economic growth, which can be viewed here.
Kent Business School
Kent Business School is a forward-looking Business School with global reach, creating stimulating research and learning environments, working with individuals and organisations to unlock innovation within our regional, national and international communities.