Member Article

Government scheme sees eight institutions support SMEs to boost productivity

Small businesses across the UK will benefit from stronger leadership and entrepreneurship skills to improve their overall productivity, thanks to eight innovative projects given the go-ahead today.

Under the new programme, 8 local ‘anchor institutions’ across the UK, including three in the North East, one in the North West and one in Yorkshire, will work with the government-backed UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) to pilot new ways to boost the leadership of small businesses.

The projects are part of the UK Futures Programme, run by UKCES.

The institutions UKCES will be working with include chambers of commerce, universities, colleges, councils, enterprise agencies, learning partnerships and business schools, in conjunction with local employers.

Julie Kenny CBE DL, founder of Pyronix Ltd, a leading small business in the security sector, and Commissioner at UKCES commented: “Small businesses form the backbone of the UK economy. Yet constraints on their time and resources mean they are the least likely to develop the leadership and management skills that will help them grow.”

The 8 selected programmes are:

• CAPTURED, led by Newcastle University
• LEAP (Leadership & Entrepreneurship Advancing Productivity), led by the University of Sunderland
• The Leadership Forge, led by Teesside University
• Doncaster Leadership & Entrepreneurship Academy, led by Doncaster Council
• The Leadership Project, led by St Helens Chamber Ltd

And, outside the North of England:

• Micro Firm Leader Development Programme, led by the Causeway Enterprise Agency, Northern Ireland
• The Catalyst Project, led by Inverness College UHI
• Support Programme co-created by Regional SMEs in Entrepreneurship and Leadership Skills, led by the Regional Learning Partnership – South West & Central Wales

Julie continued: “Owner managers and senior leaders of small companies need to spend their time and money wisely, and see clear benefits from the start. Current training programmes are often too broad or vague to be usefully applied in the real world. Simply gaining access to good programmes can also be difficult - for instance if you operate in a more rural area.

’We need new ways to reach these businesses, and we need solutions that are relevant to each small firm. The anchor institutions we will be working with have demonstrated a strong understanding of the specific issues that small businesses face in their local community. They have also shown that they have the ability to reach out to businesses who often find themselves excluded from national programmes.“

Each project represents a joint investment with UKCES, with organisations investing in cash, in-kind, or both, alongside a maximum government contribution of £200,000 per project. The total government contribution is £1.3 million

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .