Introducing Ask EMA: The AI-powered personal business assistant for small businesses

Starting and growing a small business is challenging. Founders are often faced with an overwhelming volume of information, scattered resources and time-consuming research just to find the right support.

The 2025 Small Business Ambition Report reveals that 72% of small businesses struggle to find relevant resources and 67% spend hours navigating government and support websites without success. This fragmentation means small business owners don’t always get timely, relevant, or personalised advice.

The problem we’re solving

At Enterprise Nation, we see this challenge first hand. With a community of 140,000 members and over 1 million small businesses reached annually, we are in a unique position to tackle this issue. Our platform already sees 125,000 searches a month, showing a strong demand for business support and information. However, business owners need more than just static resources — they need guidance tailored to their specific business stage, industry and goals.

Ask EMA is our response to this problem: a personal business assistant designed to cut through the noise, provide relevant advice and guide small business owners through every step of their journey.

What is Ask EMA?

EMA is not just a chatbot — it’s a developing AI and human-powered business support system.

Our goal is to create a platform that saves small businesses time by pulling together insights from trusted support organisations, government resources, grant databases and expert advisers, all in one place.

As we build, EMA aims to:

• Deliver personalised business guidance based on the user’s business stage, industry and needs

• Save time by consolidating support from multiple sources, reducing the need for business owners to search across different platforms

• Provide AI-powered recommendations, curating relevant content, funding opportunities and key actions to support business growth

• Develop a learning system, improving with every interaction to offer increasingly tailored responses over time

Our vision is to blend the power of AI with the human expertise of Enterprise Nation’s adviser network, ensuring small business owners get the right advice, at the right time, in the right way.

The technology behind Ask EMA

The development of EMA is a collaborative effort across Enterprise Nation’s engineering, marketing and content teams. Our small but agile team has been working at pace to build an AI assistant that truly understands the challenges of small businesses.

How it works:

• AI-driven search: EMA scans and analyses vetted business resources to provide accurate responses

• Contextual understanding: Natural language processing (NLP) ensures EMA understands user queries and intent

• Dynamic recommendations: Based on user interaction, EMA offers next steps, funding opportunities and further prompts for you as a business owner to consider

• Human support integration: Users can access advisers and mentors when they need expert input beyond AI recommendations

• Learning and adaptation: EMA continuously improves by learning from user questions and refining its responses

With input from data analysts, product managers, engineers and marketing specialists, EMA has been built to evolve alongside the needs of small business owners.

FAQs: What small businesses are asking about EMA

1. How does EMA help small businesses?

EMA provides fast, relevant business advice by searching through thousands of trusted resources. It surfaces funding opportunities, compliance guidance and business growth strategies in seconds.

2. Can I speak to a real person?

Yes! While EMA provides AI-driven insights, users can still continue to connect with Enterprise Nation’s network of expert advisers for personalised support.

3. How is EMA different from Google search

Unlike Google, EMA curates responses from vetted small business resources, eliminating irrelevant or outdated information and giving users step-by-step guidance.

4. Is EMA free to use?

Yes, EMA is free for Enterprise Nation members. It provides AI-powered guidance and access to free and paid expert consultations.

5. Will EMA help with funding?

Absolutely! EMA highlights grant opportunities, funding schemes and investment resources tailored to your business profile and location.

What’s next for Ask EMA?

We’re just getting started! Our vision is to make Ask EMA an essential tool for every small business.

Some upcoming features include:

• Integration with more data sources to expand support options

• AI-driven business roadmaps to give personalised action plans

• Enhanced adviser matching, helping users connect with experts

• A seamless mobile experience for business support on the go

If you haven’t already, Ask EMA today!