Page 7 - The Star SME Toolkit 2019: Business Experts Give Their Advice

Wednesday,September25,2019 www.thestar.co.uk THESTAR 7
Part of Sheffield City Council and funded through the city region’s Launchpad programme. Yvonne Asquith, Business Sheffield Manager explains the support available.
Support for start ups and early stage businesses is FREE from Business Sheff- ield through workshops, guidance, seminars, start up loans, events and resou-
rces and clearly makes all the difference given the outcome of a recent paym-
entsense report which hig- hlighted Sheffield as the number one place to start a
business in the UK.
Our support to start ups is friendly and informative and allows people to understand whether their business idea is a viable one or not. We want people to arrive at their own conclusion understand its difficult to start a business and is not for everybody, that researching the market, understanding your customer, your finances and your obligations as a busin- ess owner are all crucial questions you need to answ- er before making that leap.
We have two Start Up Advisors with years of exp- erience of working with people who have a business idea and taking them throu- gh this journey of discovery. Andy Bunn and Natalie Fletcher deliver three diffe- rent workshops that cover those critical things.
Delivered in different venu- es around the city including the new Eagle Labs, Kollid- er. There are approx 10 people in each workshop which means that individua- ls not only get to learn but share their experiences with each other which can be so important.
Andy and Natalie are al- so then available to see peo- ple on a one to one basis to provide more tailored advice which can include looking at the Government’s Start Up Loans scheme if they require investment to start their ven- ture.
Business Sheffield runs an extensive workshop progra- mme with over 20+ worksh- ops each quarter. We deliver these workshops in-house using our own specialist team as well as working wi- th numerous private sector partners who deliver works- hops on a pro bono basis for us. By keeping on top of what small and early stage businesses need this progra- mme of workshops is const- antly changing and evolving. A few years ago we ran only one social media workshop each quarter we now have workshops covering facebo-
times businesses need to sit down with somebody to provide a helping hand and help them through a bump in the road. So we have two very experienced Business Advisors Joan Binns and Christina Lima Trindade who work with small busin- esses through the most difficult early years tackling challenges such as acquiring new customers and manag- ing cashflow and helping a business with their growth ambitions.
At Business Sheffield we have a Sales and Marketing expert because so many iss- ues associated with growing a business and just plain survival revolve around sal- es and marketing. Jane Gre- gory delivers lots of sales and marketing related work- shops including creating a brand; how to sell face to face; winning customers over the phone and so many more. Jane is also on hand to meet businesses on a one
to one basis to help them with their sales and market- ing strategies.
In addition to all of this we run a large scale netwo- rking event each quarter. In fact on Wednesday, 23rd October we will be celebrating our 20th networking event. On the basis that we know that lots of people hate networking we make ours as informal as possible,and always hold them in a local bar immediately after the working day. We won’t be making anybody speed network but we get loads of great feedback from early stage and bigger businesses alike. We are aiming to do- uble the number of busine- sses for our 20th network- ing event from 100 to 200. If you are interested have a look on our website for further information.
ok business pages, instag- ram, twitter and linkedin. Social media has become a vital tool for businesses to get their brand out there qu- ickly and engage with their audience and even sell. We love getting feedback from people who have really be- nefited from the workshops. Other workshops include Selling on Amazon, Limited Company Workshop, How to build a website...the list goes on. October - Decem- ber’s workshops are already in the diary and available to see on our website.
We recognise that some-
Cabinet Member for Business and Investment said:
“It’s important that the Council does all it can to
support business starts and small businesses in the city, they are the lifeblood of the economy”.
investment and plug tech starts into all the support available in the city inclu- ding the Cooper Project at Sheffield Technology Park which provides free incub- ation space for up to six months.
We also have three Gro- wth Advisors working with manufacturing businesses on their growth strategies and linking them into the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Park and Sheffield Hallam with free support and access to innovation; such as intro- ducing tech to existing
For more information you can find us on:
Facebook: businesssheffield Twitter: @SheffBusiness Instagram: sheffbusiness
or speak to one of our friendly Gateway Team to book on to a work- shop or see an Advisor. Email us at: businesssheffield@ sheffield.gov.uk.
All of our workshops, networking events can be found on our website at www.welcometosheffiel d.co.uk/business.
Tel: 0114 224 5000
We don’t just stop at small and early stage businesses if you are tech start looking to scale we have three Tech Advisors who have founded their own successful tech businesses and help busine- sses get pitch deck ready for
machinery and equipment for a more productive shop floor.
Councillor Mazher Iqbal