The maxim that knowledge is power - and profits - also applies to the small businesses of York and North Yorkshire. So what more can be done to give them that knowledge, asks DAVID HARBOURNE, director of the region's Learning and Skills Council

YORK and North Yorkshire are fortunate to have a large number of very vibrant small businesses. Some compete with the best in the world, offering cutting-edge products and led by far-sighted entrepreneurs.

Others are what are sometimes called "lifestyle" businesses, meaning they do very well in their own market place, but the owner has no particular ambition to expand. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this - in fact, it's a very healthy part of the life and economy of North Yorkshire.

The question that nags at people like me is whether there is more that we could do to support the owners and managers of small businesses. To be even more precise, we wonder what we could do to help businessmen and women to add to their own personal skills and knowledge.

This question came back to mind when I read a report prepared by the Council for Excellence in Management and Leadership. The report is called Joining Entrepreneurs In Their World: Improving Entrepreneurship, Management, and Leadership in UK SMEs.

At the heart of the report is a fairly obvious conclusion - that if we want to support the leaders of small firms, we need to do it on their terms.

Entrepreneurs quoted in the report suggested several ways in which support for management and leadership could be improved. For a start, they said they enjoyed learning from each other, so they would welcome the chance to join informal forums where they could share ideas and experiences. Secondly, they mentioned getting advice from a 'trusted individual'. Typically this might be an entrepreneur's accountant or lawyer; it might also be an individual who has the power to inspire them and who has relevant experience and expertise. The crucial point is that the entrepreneur must feel that this is an individual who can offer genuinely valuable and practical advice, based on relevant experience.

A third point was confusion about what is already on offer. Businesses receive all sorts of mailshots about courses, workshops, seminars and so on and it is very hard to know which ones will be worthwhile.

The result is quite often that people simply don't go to anything, or don't know who to call when they want a word of advice.

In North Yorkshire, the answer is simple: start by calling Business Link on 01904 686000.

The report goes on to say that public bodies should give greater recognition to informal learning methods, such as entrepreneurs learning from each other. I represent one of those public bodies and it is true that we currently put a lot of emphasis on the sort of learning that leads to qualifications.

But prompted by this report, I feel we should definitely look at ways of developing new approaches to informal learning in our area. All ideas about how we should tackle this will be warmly welcomed.

Updated: 08:43 Tuesday, October 22, 2002