Team here to help high-growth firms (From Daily Echo)

Team here to help high-growth firms

11:35am Monday 6th September 2010 in

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HELP is at hand for ambitious local businesses that want to grow rapidly to create wealth and jobs.

The Government-backed Thames Valley Innovation and Growth team has extended its business support activities to cover Basingstoke and Deane.

Based at the borough’s Innovation Centre, at Norden House, Basing View, the team held its first meeting with local business partners.

There, Thames Valley Innovation and Growth chief executive officer Susan Elliott gave a brief background about the role of the team and introduced some of its members, made up of experienced business professionals.

She said: “They can put their knowledge to play in the businesses that we are working with.

“They are an experienced bunch of people, who are working part-time with us because the rest of the time they are managing their own businesses.

“The role that we have is supporting businesses in terms of strategic planning, offering an objective viewpoint to make sure all the angles are covered to avoid people making the same mistakes that many of the team have made in the past.”

She said that with businesses growing quickly, in many cases there was a need to finance that growth. The team often helped businesses to plan for debt and equity funding, making sure that it was appropriate for the businesses concerned.

“In the last few years we have worked with over 350 high growth businesses and helped those businesses succeed,”

said Ms Elliott.

“That client base has secured over £14m of investment funding to support the growth.”

Operations director Ed Cooper spoke of the services the team can offer and gave case studies, while Basingstoke portfolio director Mike Lunch explained that the team will be holding a series of breakfast events and workshops at the Innovation Centre.

Describing the breakfast meetings as an important element of Thames Valley Innovation and Growth’s work, he said: “It’s a way of bringing clients together and is a networking event, typically run once a month.

“It gives a chance to build a community where entrepreneurs who are often working very much on their own, or maybe working in a slightly isolated environment, find it very valuable to come to those types of sessions.”

The first event is set to take place at Norden House on September 7, starting at 8am, and is called ‘Sales agents – cost-effective resource, or expensive luxury?’.

It will be presented by Tiffany Kemp from Spencers Wood training firm Devant.

For details about attending this event call Clare Stratford on 0118 935 7369.

More information about Thames Valley Innovation and Growth can be found at innovationgrowth.co.uk/ thamesvalley.