Growth Hub Supporting local businesses
Since opening in 2016, the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) Growth Hub has aided hundreds of businesses in accessing funding and other support, to enable them to expand their business, connect with specialist organisations and create hundreds of jobs. Jessica Brookes takes a closer look at how the Growth Hub has enabled businesses to stimulate growth in Birmingham and Solihull.
The Growth Hub is a single point of contact for business advice, funding and support for any business in Birmingham, Solihull and South Staffordshire and is partly operated by Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce.
It aids businesses by offering
support and signposting services to funding opportunities and other specialist support organisations. It is funded by the European
Regional Development Fund and has a target of providing intensive support to over 1,500 businesses
by September 2019. To date, it has intensively supported over 800 businesses. David Evans, Growth Hub manager, said: “Seeing these businesses grow their staff base, turnover and international expertise is what the Growth Hub is here to
do and it’s fantastic to see that happen in reality. “We are absolutely committed to
seeing them succeed, prosper and thrive in every way possible and we hope to continue to do that alongside Birmingham’s very bright future.”
‘We wouldn’t have created skilled jobs without the Growth Hub’
One business that has benefited from Growth Hub help is UK Dies, based in Bordesley. They are a leading international supplier of precision tooling and were one of the first businesses to seek support. Paul Singh, managing director at UK Dies, said: “There was a shift, about
two or three years ago, about how you contacted organisations for funding. “There were a lot of changes and confusion, and businesses, especially
small businesses, weren’t able to keep up. “However I remember going to a seminar where all the funding came to
one place and made sense, and explained what the Growth Hub was.” This was the Growth Hub’s launch event in 2015, just under three years ago. Since then, Mr Singh has been signposted to a number of support
services, capital expenditure grants for machines and continues to utilise Growth Hub services. He said: “It’s truly a one-stop shop, where you’ve got advisers who will
give you guidance. The style from the growth hub was just to listen and hear about our business. “Jeanette Peters, my adviser, asked me lots of questions about the
business and invited me in for a meeting. She then went through all the options and established what we are actually looking for. After listening to what we wanted, Jeanette offered us two or three projects that were suitable for our business.” One was Birmingham City Council’s Business Growth Programme grant,
where every £10,000 in grant money was in exchange for the creation of a job. In total, UK Dies has created 12 jobs and acquired £120,000 in funding
from this source alone. Chamberlink asked Paul if there was any way he would have created those
jobs without the Growth Hub’s support. His response was “unlikely”. He added: “With all the uncertainty out there now, we would not have been able to take that risk of creating skilled jobs without the support of the
Growth Hub. Being able to invest in research and development, along with support with capital expenditure, allows us to be more creative and remain authentic, especially in the world in manufacturing and engineering.” Jeanette said: “It’s so encouraging to know that we make a difference to
organisations such as UK Dies. We take the headache away from them and get them to understand what’s out there, giving them the tools and putting them in contact with people that can help support them and their business.”
Business News
Support: Paul Singh at his factory with Growth Hub personnel Jeanette Peters and David Evans
September 2018 CHAMBERLINK 17
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80
