Hi and welcome to the Worcestershire Growth Hub newsletter. Today you join us in the kiln in Worcester. I just wanted to give you a bit of some of the work that has happened since we last spoke to you and some of the things that you can read about in the newsletter this month.

So, we have kicked of the LEP’s COP quarter in September. We have had three huge events that have been really successful, raising the awareness of the governments Net Zero agenda and talking to businesses about the kind of support that we can do to help them achieve Net Zero.  We have done two events with local MP’s, we did a great event with Rachel Maclean in Redditch, we also did another event with Harriet Baldwin in Malvern. We also welcomed the governments Net Zero Carbon Battle Bus that joined us at the arena, and we had over 50 businesses and students from the University of Worcester attend on the day to see the Net Zero Carbon Battle Bus but also to hear about the support and opportunities that are available.

I am really pleased to be able to tell you that we have decided to invest more money in our Specialist Advisor Programme. This is based on the success of the programme to date, where we have helped over 60 businesses access specialist advisor support. This is specialist support in the arena of Marketing, Access to Finance, Green Energy, Digital Transformation and General Business Support. This is open to any business across the County, there are no restrictions on this, so we really urge you to get in touch and access this specialist support, its free of charge.

You’ve heard us talk about our Peer Network Programme before and we are really pleased to tell you that we’ve got two more cohorts starting, one in December and one in January. Again, if you would like to access this fantastic support where you get to work with likeminded businesses and business leaders then please do get in touch with the Growth Hub.

By now, we really hope you are aware of our tech accelerator in Worcestershire. Betaden is one of a kind and it’s been going now for about two and a half years and its just about to take on its fifth cohort of businesses. So, whether you’ve got an innovative idea and you are working alone or whether you are working within a business, if you would like some support to bring that innovative idea to life, to do some market testings then please do get in touch with the Growth Hub. We will be able to direct you to that support.

So, more support is coming on board daily, whether that’s grants or just business support, the Growth Hub is the place to go to find that support. We as a team are out and about visiting businesses day in and day out, we re having face to face visits and those online. So please do get in touch, the details are on the screen, and we would love to hear from you.