On the eve of one of the most keenly awaited Budgets in recent memory, we asked two entrepreneurs for their thoughts on George Osborne's next move.

Mark Horgan, CEO, Moneycorp:

“One key area which needs improvement before we can restabilise the economy is the support and services offered to small and medium-sized business exporting their goods and services.

“Exports to emerging markets provide fertile territory for businesses and industries looking to grow – manufacturing industries such as automotive, for instance, have remained buoyant throughout the recession because of their strong performance in emerging markets.

"Small and medium-sized businesses, however, often don’t have access to the advice or services needed to implement an economically efficient exporting process.

"Most of these businesses are still using high street banks to manage their foreign exchange, which offer no advice and whose extortionate rates are prohibitive.

“The government continues to make exports a focus, and there is strong support from foreign exchange services such as Chamber FX, which we power here at Moneycorp.

Small and medium-sized businesses need to seek out advice from these services rather than high street banks – they probably aren’t aware of the competitive rates available, which would empower them to grow their own businesses as well as contributing to national GDP.”

Annette King, CEO, OgilvyOne EMEA:

“What I’d like to see from this year’s Budget is a marked investment in the digital and technological skillsets which account for the majority of jobs being created in the UK, and for our nation’s future prosperity.

Skills such as coding and development should be part of the national curriculum by now, and will be key to business innovation in the future, as more and more of the services we rely on to bolster GDP and raise revenue through exports are digitised.

“Digital communications and digital marketing are not just the future of business comms; they’re the current reality, as we see all the time at OgilvyOne.

"An investment in the companies driving digital forward and in the people they employ will make an enormous difference to the speed at which we get out of debt, eradicate the deficit and hopefully go on to prosper.

“From a marketing perspective, we are also keen to see the government empower the country’s small and medium-sized businesses to invest in global marketing.

"Many SMEs across all regions of the UK could be exporting their services – again, mainly through digital channels – to new markets worldwide, growing their own businesses and contributing to annual GDP; but first they need to create demand and awareness.

"As marketers, we have a role to play in educating these businesses about our industry’s power to generate growth, but government changes such as tax breaks and financial incentives are even more likely to spark a change in attitude.

"The Advertising Association’s LEAD Summit this January taught us that exports of SMEs’ goods and services could contribute $40bn to our economy annually. This is a figure we can’t afford to lose out on because of a lack of understanding or incentive.

“Marketers and advertisers also need to play their part in acknowledging the importance of business-to-business marketing as well as consumer goods advertising.

"Where once it was TV ads for well-known consumer brands that won us awards and glory, we now need to accept that effective B2B marketing is equally necessary for a stable, balanced economic recovery, as it lessens our over-dependency on consumer spending.

"The great work we do for UK businesses of all sizes should be recognised and celebrated just as much as the work we do for big-name brands."