Newcastle Business School at Northumbria University has been awarded funding to support 50 microbusinesses to engage with technology to boost their productivity.
Newcastle Business School is part of a consortium of business schools accredited by the Small Business Charter for their expertise in supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs who will deliver the programme. The Leading to Grow Programme will be offered at no cost to microbusinesses across England.
Businesses that employ up to nine people will be able to apply to take part in workshops around how to utilise existing technologies to improve efficiency and profitability.
The funding has been made available through the government’s £9m Business Basics Programme run by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and Innovate UK.
Due to the small size and the dispersed nature of microbusinesses, they have not routinely received planned interventions by government agencies. The Government is now targeting this type of business due to their potential and readiness to scale-up, and this is the first time that such a programme has been coordinated across the country.
With so many areas being covered it is hoped that this free programme will help a large number of microbusinesses and support economic growth in a number of regions.
The UK’s 1.1 million microbusinesses employ over 4 million people and contribute £533bn to the UK economy. The business schools, the Small Business Charter and the government hope to make a real impact on this important part of the economy.
Nigel Coates, Associate Professor and Director of The Business Clinic at Newcastle Business School, said:‘We are delighted to be involved in this exciting new programme, aimed at helping microbusinesses improve productivity through the use of technology. We will be supporting fifty organisations across the North East region and look forward to seeing the results and success this programme brings’.
Anne Kiem, Executive Director of the Small Business Charter and Chief Executive of the Chartered Association of Business Schools, said:
“We are excited to be working with business schools to help improve the productivity of a range of microbusinesses. The pace of technological advances means that today’s small firms who embrace innovation will be tomorrow’s success stories”
For more information and to apply for a workshop please email businessclinic@northumbria.ac.uk