The UK business confidence problem, not a lack of talent or economic fundamentals, is what is holding the country back, according to David Abrahamovitch, founder and chief executive of Shoreditch-based coffee company Grind. Writing in a personal essay, Abrahamovitch argues that British businesses have become so preoccupied with political noise and national decline that they have lost sight of what still makes the UK a strong place to build a company.
Lessons from the largest-ever UK trade mission to the US
Abrahamovitch joined 250 leaders from business, politics and culture on what he describes as the UK’s largest-ever trade mission to the United States, officially titled Greater Together LA. The trip, he says, produced an unexpected revelation: not new knowledge about how America operates, but a reminder of how Britain is still perceived by serious investors and business leaders abroad.
In conversation after conversation, including on the British Airways charter flight over, one pattern emerged. American entrepreneurs and investors were not dwelling on Washington or political instability. They were focused on what was growing, what was scaling and where the next opportunity lay. And many of them, Abrahamovitch writes, still see the UK as one of the best places in the world to build a company. ‘We’re the ones who’ve stopped believing it,’ he says.
The scale of the commercial relationship between the two countries gives that perception some weight. According to GOV.UK, investment stock between the UK and the US reaches around £1.2 trillion and supports over 2.6 million jobs across both countries. That is not the profile of a bilateral relationship propped up by goodwill; it reflects deep, ongoing commercial confidence in what the UK offers.
The UK business confidence problem in numbers
Back home, the picture has recently shown some grounds for optimism. The economy grew 0.4 per cent in the second quarter, better than expected, and the services sector returned to growth for the first time since April. Abrahamovitch is careful not to overstate this. Hospitality, he notes, is still having a difficult time, unemployment remains stubbornly high and confidence ahead of the Budget is unsettled. But the data, he argues, shows that momentum is available to those willing to act on it.
His core argument is that confidence is not a reward that follows growth: it is a precondition for it. Every business begins with what he calls a ‘slightly irrational belief’ that something better can be built. The same logic, he suggests, applies to economies. You do not grow by managing decline more efficiently. You grow by deciding to build anyway.
Politics as context, not excuse
Abrahamovitch acknowledges that the political environment is shifting. He points to moves on business rates and a stated government commitment to economic growth as welcome signals. But he is direct that businesses cannot keep using politics as a reason for inaction. Governments, he writes, create conditions; entrepreneurs create jobs; companies make investments; founders take risks.
His own company’s pandemic experience shapes that view. When Grind’s core café and restaurant business was disrupted, the company diversified into ecommerce and grocery, opening new growth channels rather than waiting for conditions to improve. He holds that up not as a boast but as an illustration of a broader principle.
Grind, Abrahamovitch notes, has a turnover of £50 million. The company’s pivot during the pandemic is, for him, proof that the opportunity tends to come from building rather than waiting.
His closing argument is cultural as much as economic. Britain, he writes, needs to stop treating ambition as something faintly embarrassing and start recognising the people who create jobs, invest in communities and build businesses. The rest of the world, he says, has not stopped believing in what the UK can do. The question is whether the UK itself is ready to agree.
