Small and medium sized businesses in the East Midlands are being offered their last opportunity in 2024 to take advantage of a government training scheme delivered by De Montfort University’s Leicester Castle Business School (LCBS).
The Help to Grow: Management scheme is delivered via Small Business Charter accredited business schools for companies with ambitions to scale up and grow.
LCBS has helped over 200 local SMEs realise their growth ambitions since launching the course in 2020. The programme, worth £7,500, is 90% funded by the government with the remaining 10% paid for by an LCBS bursary.
A few places are still available for the upcoming course, which will take place over 13 weeks, beginning with an introductory online session on September 2nd.
The programme will be delivered via a combination of nine online sessions and four in-person modules at Harborough Innovation Centre. This hybrid approach offers participants the opportunity to forge in-person relationships with professionals with similar concerns and challenges while maintaining the convenience of a predominately online format.
The course is designed to fit in alongside the demands of full-time work and the tutors assigned to each module are professionals with real-world experience in their specialist areas which include digital transformation, winning new markets, marketing strategy, employee engagement and financial management.
As well as the weekly sessions focusing on one topic, participants are assigned a mentor to support them in creating a bespoke Growth Action Plan. Peer-to-peer learning is also a key part of Help to Grow: Management, with professionals forming valuable support networks that last beyond the duration of the course.
“We’re really looking forward to welcoming participants to our third and final intake of 2024,” said LCBS’s Help to Grow: Management programme director, Dr Danny Buckley. “As always, we’re anticipating great demand for the course, so we encourage interested parties to secure their place as soon as possible to end 2024 on a high and enter the new year armed with the resources and skills they need to make 2025 their best year yet.”
This chance to grow their business is open to any decision-making professional with at least one direct report in a UK-based business employing between 5 and 249 staff, which has been operational for at least a year.
2023 participant Mark Massetti, Managing Director of Watford Control Instruments Limited, said: “The course was a complete game changer for me. As business owners, we think we know stuff but we don’t have any real way of benchmarking ourselves.
“Unsurprisingly, and without a doubt, the content on digitisation was absolutely transformative for our business. We have saved hours of staff resources and these can now be redeployed into looking after our customers or generating revenue. I also found the modules on marketing really well explained and very helpful.”
Nationally, 90% of participants reported improved leadership and management of their business six months following Help to Grow: Management. Not only that, 80% cited improvements in employee engagement in the same period.
Following the programme, participants have access to alumni events, and many continue to engage with the peer network they establish as course members.
“Implementing the process of asking how efficient and streamlined the business is and taking action has been a big takeout from this for me,” adds Mark Massetti. “Also, it was great to meet the other participants – we had some really good times on the course!”
