Interview: Liverpool LEP executive director Mark Basnett on the Local Growth Hub

Earlier this week, the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) announced the launch of the Local Growth Hub, a new portal through which businesses in the area can access the support they need to grow.

Keen to know more about the Hub and what it means for Liverpool’s business community, I caught up with Mark Basnett, the executive director of the Liverpool LEP and one of the driving forces behind the launch of the new platform.

Mark has worked with businesses, predominantly in and around Liverpool, for more than 20 years now, having held a number of roles that saw him focus on growing the local economy through supporting SMEs.

“The business support landscape is highly complex, with so many different providers,” he told me. “There are as many as 75 organisations here providing hundreds of support services, so it’s incredibly difficult for businesses to navigate the right options to unlock growth.”

The whole idea of the Local Growth Hub, Mark explained, is to simplify the landscape, providing companies with a single point of access.

The website will allow you to contact your Local Growth Hub broker directly and talk to someone about your business

He continued: “Rather than have lots of advisors advising businesses in the Local Growth Hub, navigationally we’re operating an online and physical brokerage model to help businesses find the support they’re looking for.

“The growth hub concept has been pushed across the country by the Government over the last two or three years. We’ve developed our own version of that effectively, with their support.”

To access the Local Growth Hub’s services, businesses are directed to localgrowthhub.com, where an introductory video explains in a nutshell how it all works.

“The website,” Mark said, “will allow you to contact your Local Growth Hub broker directly, in your area, and talk to someone about your business. Or you can search for support online, as there’s a tool that asks you a few questions about your business, what you’re interested in, and from there you can navigate through a whole myriad of advisors and services that might be relevant for your business.

“We’ve made the Local Growth Hub very much about encouraging businesses to access commercial support and the various initiatives available, whether they’re funded nationally or locally.

Mark Basnett, executive director of the Liverpool LEP

“Our system has a lot of registered commercial advisors, so you can search for specialists in marketing or graphic design, or websites or legal and financial advice. Whatever it might be, you simply type in what you’re looking for and you’ll be put in touch with the right advisor or company offering those services.”

In our conversation, Mark explained that something Liverpool suffers from – and it’s a pattern seen across all the cities of the North – is that the business density here is lower than the UK average. Additionally, the City Region has relatively low levels of female entrepreneurship.

The LEP’s aim with the Local Growth Hub sits firmly alongside its enterprise strategy for the City Region, which identifies growth in the business density, increasing the number of female entrepreneurs and improving business survival rates.

The Liverpool City Region actually has the largest number of high-growth firms in the country outside London

Mark said: “One of our key strategies is […] to grow the business base, encourage people to start in business and support their early-stage growth. We also want to help businesses that are already established to grow.”

“Some really interesting research has shown that the Liverpool City Region actually has the largest number of high-growth firms in the country outside London. About 8.5% of the enterprises here are classed as high-growth, compared to Manchester where it’s around 7.5%, or in Oxfordshire where I believe it’s 6.5%.

“All that’s really encouraging, as a big part of our strategy is to strengthen the economy of the City Region by supporting those businesses with high growth potential and making sure they have the support they need, whether that’s financial support, people, skills.”

Some big names feature on the list of regional brokers for the Local Growth Hub, including Liverpool Vision and the Knowsley Chamber of Commerce.

“When we were getting our brokers together, it was an open competition for organisations that want to provide this point of contact, this brokerage for businesses across the area.

Our partners have networks across the area, a presence on the ground across the City Region

“Rather than create a brand new organisation, what we’ve done is attract those with the capacity, either current or projected, to work with businesses, so we’ve got Chambers and authorities from across the City Region involved.”

“Our partners have networks across the area, a presence on the ground across the City Region.”

Over the coming years, Mark is confident the Local Growth Hub will have a tangible effect on Liverpool’s business landscape.

He said: “We expect the Local Growth Hub to have a positive impact […] by helping businesses whatever stage they’re at, from people thinking of starting up to experienced, high-growth enterprises. Ultimately it’s about finding things that can accelerate growth.

“We’re confident it will deliver significant economic growth and contribute to the targets we’ve got in our enterprise strategy for the City Region.”

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