Help to Grow: Management is coming to Exeter
After a successful first year of the Help to Grow: Management training course, the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) are scheduled to head to Exeter in January to deliver the course to Devon business leaders.
In 2021, the Small Business Charter launched Help to Grow: Management to help SMEs in their recovery from the impact of Covid-19. The 12-week business development course is for senior managers of SMEs and aims to help boost performance, resilience, and long-term growth of their businesses.
Delivered through a blend of interactive online and face-to-face learning, the course covers strategies for growth and innovation, leading high-performance teams, digital adoption, as well as financial management and responsible business practices.
- Develop a tailored business growth plan
- Access to 10 hours of one-to-one mentor support
- Regular peer group calls
- Join other SME leaders through both local and national alumni networks.
Ross Brook, Managing Director at Bear Industrial Engineering Ltd, completed the course with UWE Bristol earlier this year. When asked what motivated him to sign up, he said: “I’ve made a journey for myself, coming from an engineer to a business owner and wanted to formalise some of my business knowledge associated with that journey.
“It’s a small investment, time and money, but you walk away with a large toolkit of business concepts that you can apply almost immediately to your business.”
Business leaders on the programme benefit from regular peer group calls, have access to 10 hours of one-to-one mentor support and will be able to join other SME leaders through both local and national alumni networks.
Reflecting on his time on the course, Robert Ogden, Founder of Renewable Exchange, said: “It was really helpful to go through a programme like this while discussing similar problems and challenges with a group of other business leaders who are in similar situations. It was great to understand what others have done in the past, what’s worked well, what hasn’t, and we all stay in touch now.”
Upon programme completion, participants will have developed a tailored business growth plan that sets out to drive productivity and revenue growth.
In their first year of delivery, UWE Bristol guided over one hundred SME leaders through the course. Those completing the course have benefitted from the expertise of UWE Bristol module facilitators - experts at Bristol Business School who combine academic and real-life business experience.
Help to Grow: Management is 90% subsidised by the government meaning it costs just £750 for business leaders. Designed to be undertaken alongside full-time work, the twelve modules require 50 hours of commitment to timetabled activities.
UWE Bristol’s Exeter cohort is scheduled to start on 30th January 2023. To find out more about the course, visit UWE Bristol’s website or contact the team on helptogrow@uwe.ac.uk.
