Hello and welcome to the March edition of Worcestershire Growth Hub Newsletter. Here we are in March already, can you believe it! As we get closer to the end of the financial year, I like many of you am finding I’m beginning to reflect on some of the successes and the challenges of the last 12 months.
Funding for our business support programmes, often come in one- or two-year cycles and as such we are seeing some of our more popular business support programmes draw to a close. Peer Networks has been a great scheme for the county’s businesses. Delivered through stakeholders, the Worcestershire Growth Hub has directly funded over 150 businesses to overcome their challenges, grow their networks as well as access advice and support from their peers. You can read about this on the website.
Our Specialist Business Advisor Programme has been equally as impactful, with 260 businesses benefitting from one-to-one, time, support and advice. This is all delivered by specialist business advisors, if you think your business might benefit, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the team, as this programme is due to temporarily close at the end of the month.
Hopefully you will have seen the series of informative articles and blogs that our Specialist Advisors have pulled together to give you a flavour of some of the key issues that they have supported the Worcestershire Businesses with. These articles are completely free to access and are available on the Growth Hub website.
Outside of the Growth Hub, we have also got additional news to update you on, which may be of assistance to your business. BetaDen North the counties clean technology accelerator programme is working to help businesses of all sizes bring their clean technology ideas to life. The team are looking for businesses across the North of the county to join their 60-day bootcamp. This is entirely free and will offer entrepreneurs, start-ups and scale-up businesses a package of support worth over £25,000, you can find out more on their website.
I was pleased to be at the GJS Dillon launch of their property market report. This is a key resource from the county and this report helps to outline the local commercial property market but also help businesses understand what is available. If you are thinking about relocating or looking for new premises, make sure to contact the Growth Hub first as we can definitely help you.
Finally, Id love to recap and draw your attention to a fantastic investment from late February, where through support from Worcestershire Growth Hub and the Department for International Trade we were able to help South African business Saratoga with investing into the county, opening their European headquarters right here in Worcestershire. You can read the full story on our website.
Thank you for listening, I hope you enjoy reading the March newsletter! Please contact the Growth Hub if you’ve got any business support inquiries and have a great March!