Enterprising ways to help your business to develop
Published 21/05/2009
BE ENTERPRISING, County Durham's Local Enterprise Growth Initiative (LEGI), delivers a range of innovative projects designed to inspire enterprise and bring about positive and measurable change.
As well as offering business start-up advice, the programme offers a range of support services for SMEs.
Business Coaches — Free Business Advice
Be Enterprising's experienced business coaches are placed in community locations throughout County Durham and are on hand to offer free advice to help you get the best out of your business. Depending on the type of business you run, they'll put you in touch with excellent contacts, from service providers to funding organisations, who can assist you in developing your plans for future growth. And they'll be right behind you with support and advice, however ambitious your ideas. One such business to benefit from Be Enterprising's business advice was pub landlord, Alan Hogg_ Alan set up The Yard of Ale Brewery in a spare room of his pub, the Surtees Arms in Ferryhill in April 2008, with help from Be Enterprising Business Coach, Andrew Wattsford.
It's now proving a hit in Durham and Yard of Ale beers are stocked at around 25 pubs in the area. The brewery also scooped the title of Beer of the Festival at the 2008 Darlington Beer Festival. Alan is producing two and a half barrels of beer every week, around 90 gallons.
Alan said: The help and support from Andrew and Be Enterprising has been invaluable. When I took over the pub I was taking over an established business, but starting an enterprise from scratch is completely different and I'm glad I had Andrew to turn to for advice." Fastest 50 — offering small businesses a fast track to success Small businesses in County Durham that believe they have the capacity to grow and expand could be eligible for support from Be Enterprising's unique Fastest 50 programme. "Fastest 50 is aimed at inspiring people, raising aspirations, innovation and improving business skills," said Shaun Stuart of The Enterprise Agency, who runs the programme on behalf of Be Enterprising. The project offers a combination of grant funding to invest in the client's strategic development, mentoring from successful local business people and six days of intensive workshops in the key areas of Leadership, Strategy, Communications, Finance, Marketing and Personnel. Places are fully funded and the key requirement for businesses is that they have the aspiration and potential to grow. One business to have benefited from the Fastest 50 project is the Bishop Auckland based Medical Services (North East) Ltd, a company that operates a private ambulance service and delivers first aid training. "Fastest 50 has completely turned our business around," said Wayne Hall, who is now looking to expand and increase the workforce. "Within a few months our sales were up 56% on the previous year and this is all down to the programme." Wayne's Fastest 50 mentor, Paul Storey, managing director of MRB Schumag, said: "I have found the whole experience very rewarding and am happy to have played a small part in something so successful."
