London has been the top financial, business and cultural centre for almost fifty years and has been the birthplace of business practices that contribute to economic development worldwide.

London is a global financial centre
London hosts the headquarters of 68 companies on the 2014 Forbes Global 2000 list,  in addition to being ranked first on the 2012 Globalization and World Cities (GAWC) Index that measures the power of global cities in terms of international business, sustainability, urban policy, and logistics.  According to a Centre for Cities report published in 2013, in terms of business innovation and expansion, London outperformed many European rivals, while the number of new business startups places the UK capital in high regard worldwide.

London has a prominent tech scene
London’s tech scene has demonstrated a steady growth over the past decade as a result of governmental support and venture capital increases. The UK government has a number of schemes including the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) which aim to attract major tech companies in London. The East London area around Old Street, known as “Silicon Roundabout”, follows the government’s aggressive promotion of London as a tech hub, where more than 3,000 tech start-ups considered the UK capital as the perfect spot to establish their businesses. London has been transformed into the fastest growing European tech cluster with the advantages of an early adopter city, with some of Silicon Valley’s start-ups and giants choosing to open headquarters within the city.  Google’s largest office outside the Valley is situated in London and Facebook has its largest European office in London.

The UK Government supports start-ups
In the UK, there are several government-backed schemes and business loans that support entrepreneurial initiatives. In particular, the UK government provides a number of start-up loans in the context of the Start Up Loans Programme that was launched within The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The Programme aims to finance entrepreneurs with feasible business ideas in order to boost the role of SMEs in the financial growth of the UK economy. The Business Finance Partnership (BFP) is an investment of GBP1.2 million with the aim to increase lending to SMEs with money from the private sector investors. Also, there is  the Business Angel Co-Investment Fund, a fund provided by angel investors, who provide their capital to get a share in the start-up business in return. Finally, the UK government offers among other schemes, the Small Loans for Business Scheme (up to GBP50,000 to SMEs), and the Enterprise Financial Guarantee scheme to assist businesses that are denied loans with guarantees and collateral.

In conclusion, there is no doubt that London remains a globally competitive city in terms of economic strength, financial maturity, human capital and economic growth. The role of small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) remains vital as more and more entrepreneurs select London as a preferred location for establishing their business. The support of the UK government is equally important to London’s overall economic activity and financial prosperity.

Sources:

http://www.forbes.com/global2000/list/

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/world2012t.html

http://www.forbes.com/global2000/#page:1_sort:0_direction:asc_search:_filter:All%20industries_filter:United%20Kingdom_filter:All%20states

http://www.centreforcities.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/15-01-09-Cities-Outlook-2015.pdf

https://gigaom.com/2013/06/21/londons-tech-startup-scene-is-hot-just-dont-compare-it-to-silicon-valley/

https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/making-it-easier-to-set-up-and-grow-a-business–6