In part one of a two-part exclusive interview, Jon Wilcox speaks to Lord Digby Jones about the current economic climate for small businesses, and what the government should be doing to help the situation.
"If we're going to get out of this mess, we're going to need successful SMEs that's for sure," comments Lord Jones, former trade minister and director general of the Confederation of British Industry. "This country is only going to get itself out of this economic malaise if we trade our way out of it. If you ever analyse the first year out of a recession, it's always the small business sector that pulls the country out; it's the sector that starts to employ first; it's that grows wealth again first. The small business sector is key to economic recovery."
Dragons' Den judges James Caan and Deborah Meaden and social entrepreneur Karen Darby are some of the successful entrepreneurs who feature in our exclusive videos. 
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