Invest to Grow: The Growth Hub service investing in business growth
GBSLEP
This blog post is part of the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce’s Invest to Grow campaign. Invest to Grow aims to inspire and inform businesses around investment in R&D, innovation, technology and machinery and how it can help boost productivity through case studies, expert opinion pieces and briefing information. Click here to find out more and don’t forget to join the conversation on social media with #I2G18. Part 2 of Invest to Grow focuses on investment in technology and machinery and is sponsored by MCS Corporate.
The Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise (GBSLEP) Growth Hub is the single point of contact for business advice, funding and support for any business across Greater Birmingham. We bring together all services and partners offering business support in our region through a web portal and expert Growth Hub advisers.
We will either provide support directly to businesses or refer them to our partner organisations who can provide specialist advice and access to a range of funding opportunities. To date, we have helped many businesses in Greater Birmingham and Solihull, and assisted with 8189 number of enquiries since launching in October 2015.
Our Growth Hub partners offer support to a wide range of businesses, from start-ups and small businesses to established businesses in the region. If you are looking to grow your business, we can help signpost you to the relevant partner organisation to support your business growth.
We can help local businesses in the region with different types of support including:
- Innovation
- Funding
- Exporting
- Start-up Support
- Training
- Leadership and Management
We regularly offer free workshop sessions throughout the year for businesses to develop their skills and scale up their business. From sessions in marketing, social media and business planning, to website optimization, negotiation skills and much more, it is a great opportunity to grow your business and invest in essential business skills at no cost to you.
We have had many success stories of businesses throughout Greater Birmingham and Solihull who have benefited from our services. Here are just a few examples of businesses we have helped:
DMN Logistics, a vehicle logistics company, was introduced to the Business Growth Programme and through the application process received grant funding to the value of £27,000 to help them grow their business:
“We had some rapid growth that created 4 full time roles in the business”. Nick Chadaway, Managing Director of DMN Logistics
Hollywood Monster, a signage and graphics company, was able to invest in the green economy and lower their carbon footprint through the Green Bridge Supply Programme. They were successful in their grant application and received £100,000, which helped support them to purchase energy efficient specialist printing machines.
"Every retailer has a responsibility to drive down their carbon footprint and be more sustainable as a business”. Simon Mckenzie, Managing Director of Hollywood Monster
Mosamosa, a start-up food business received pivotal support through our Growth Hub partners Enterprise for Success. Fahima, the owner was paired up with her own personal business mentor who provided ongoing support, participated in a workshop on setting up a business and attended networking events.
“I would definitely recommend the programme to others starting out”. Fahima Jilani, Owner of Mosamosa
Advanced Engineering, a provider of high quality engineering services to the UK and European marketplace, was signposted to a number of business support services to help them grow. They were helped with access to various funding including Aston University’s Low Carbon SMEs project, which helped them develop energy efficient solutions and the Manufacturing Growth Programme, which facilitated investment into employees.
“We have been able to build a skilled team at Advanced Engineering and this combined with investment in equipment, quality system development and a customer focussed approach allows us to maintain our position in the market place”. Terry Pedley, Managing Director of Advanced Engineering
You can contact our Growth Hub business advisors in a variety of ways. For more information on how we can help your business grow, contact us by email at info@gbslepgrowthhub.co.uk, call us on 0800 032 3488 or speak to us on our live chat service (09:00-17:00 weekdays) on the website.
Ian McLaughlan
GBSLEP
Growth Hub Manager