Burton & District
Contact: Chris Plant T: 0845 603 6650
Importance of growth
More than 50 business advisors from a wide variety of organisations were brought together by the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Growth Hub at a ‘Growth Hub Advisor’ event, to learn how they can work together to help East Staffordshire businesses to grow. The event was held in Burton, and began with
a scene-setting presentation for the Stoke-on- Trent and Staffordshire Growth Hub. Attendees then heard from Chamber director
Chris Plant, for an overview of the Growth Hub, the main aims of the programme and how it works.
‘Looking forward, our approach will be simplicity, consistency and clarity’
Chris said: “The Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Growth Hub provides a much-needed service to put businesses in touch with expert help. The event was a great way to get advisors and business people together in one room to talk about how we can move forward with the Growth Hub. “There’s an emphasis on growth and the big
target for the hub is job creation. Looking forward, our approach will be simplicity, consistency and clarity as this is what our clients seek.” A presentation from Rob Lawley, head of
international trade for Staffordshire, followed. He spoke about how the referral process worked
between the Growth Hub and UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) services. The proposed Manufacturing Growth
Programme, which will be put in place to support manufacturing SMEs in order to help them grow, was also covered, as was the Skills Hub and the need to increase higher level skills within Staffordshire. The Growth Hub event also encouraged
attendees to take part in a workshop which looked at how to further partnership working. The teams then provided feedback in order to help develop partnership working in the future.
Students from Burton and South Derbyshire College have been donating refurbished computers to charity
New lease of life for
old IT equipment IT students at Burton and South Derbyshire College have donated computers and laptops to Computers for Charities, after undertaking a project to refurbish IT equipment. As part of the project, the students sourced
the computers, fixed and refurbished them, and researched a charity to donate them to. The students gathered the machines from
Chamber director Chris Plant
local residents and BSDC staff members and have now been donated to Computers for Charities, who will distribute the devices to UK charities, as well as overseas projects for schools in countries such as Zambia.
Advice is just a phone call away
Staffordshire divisions in Birmingham Chambers Group have won a tender to deliver the Staffordshire Business Helpline for the next five years. The helpline, which was launched four years ago, puts
businesses in touch with expert help. The helpline doesn’t provide business support itself, but access to support for people who are unclear about what help is out there. The helpline is an initiative from the Stoke-on-Trent and
Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership. Since its launch in 2012, it has advised more than 3,000 different businesses. The helpline offers information to businesses on all kinds of
issues, ranging from funding and finance to intellectual property rights. It supports firms of all sizes. Steve Smith, business adviser for the
Staffordshire Business Helpline, said: “The great thing about the helpline is that it provides a single point of contact offering independent advice and immediate answers wherever possible.”
The helpline is open from 8:30am to 5:30pm, Monday to Friday. Call 0300 111 8002 or email
growthhub@staffordshirechambers.co.uk
‘It’s donations like this that help us to continue the work we do’
Simon Rooksby, founder of Computers for Charities, said: “The students have achieved a phenomenal standard of work. It’s clear the hard work and attention that has gone into the refurbishment project and they have done an extremely good job. It’s donations like this that help us to continue the work we do to supply quality IT equipment for charities.” Jack Bates, IT student at Burton and South
Derbyshire College said: “The project has given us real experience of starting and running our own project. It was good working as a team to do the research and carry out the work that will now go on to benefit others.” Dave Newbold, IT lecturer at Burton and
South Derbyshire College, said: “We have been working in conjunction with Computers for Charities to provide newly refurbished machines for donations both in the UK and abroad. We hope to develop a programme to allow local businesses to donate equipment for refurbishment and even carry out exchange programmes whereby staff and learners can gain insight into other cultures.”
May 2016 CHAMBERLINK 29
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