It has been two months since the East Midlands Development Agency (emda) staged one of its biggest ever business support events to help Derbyshire businesses withstand the pressures of the economic downturn.
Since the December event, the downturn has gathered pace, but many businesses have heeded the expert advice they heard at Survive & Thrive and have benefited from it.
Survive & Thrive delivered expert talks by Shoosmiths, Freeth Cartwright and Cooper Parry and was attended by around 2,000 businesses from across the East Midlands.
James Blick, Managing Director of The Finesse Collection, the lifestyle hotel company, attended the Pride Park event: “Sometimes it is best to pull yourself back from the wood and see the trees. The ‘back to basics’ advice I received from the Survive & Thrive event in Derby installed faith that our actions of keeping our key customers close whilst sharpening the pencil with all our costs without diluting our quality ensures we are positioned well for the ‘storm’ of the economic downturn.” Since the event, Mr Blick has made sure that he has put the specialist advice into practice. He continued: “It’s like that all important New Year’s resolution, you really do not want to take that get fit class, however this time, prompted with this seminar, you actually want to ignite the fire to get your business ‘working out’ to ensure it is fit to survive!”
Also in the audience was Cath Davison, Director of PLM Fire and Safety. Ms Davison said: “I found Survive & Thrive very useful and reassuring. Useful in that I have learnt some important information and assuring in that it is good to know that there are a lot of people out there with the knowledge, expertise and inclination to share with others. It was also good to be associated with so many like-minded people all wanting to maintain and improve the success of their businesses.
“I am now beginning to implement several useful tips that are proving an advantage to the company and the bank balance. I am now working towards cash flow forecasting, reducing debtor days and using different strategies to persuade our debtors to pay us within our payment terms, which in turn means we can pay our creditors within theirs.” Ms Davison concluded: “I am also quite open with the staff in terms of how we are doing as a company and how we all need to take some responsibility in order to survive. Thanks to Survive & Thrive I am also more confident in my dealings with HMRC and have negotiated easier payment installments for both VAT and Corporation Tax.”
An event has been organised by the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce to deal with many of the issues that businesses attending the Survive & Thrive events highlighted as further areas of concern. Showcase, Market and Sell! is a one-day conference being held at the Pride Park Stadium, Derby on 23 February 2009.
This free event will give those businesses unable to attend the Survive & Thrive events the opportunity to showcase themselves with a free exhibition stand, network with other businesses, generate more business and attend advice sessions on sales and marketing in a recession.
Throughout the afternoon, there will also be an opportunity to pitch to large corporate and public sector buyers.
To deal with the issues of businesses accessing financial support emda has announced the introduction of the East Midlands’ Transition Loan Fund which will provide loans of between £50,000 and £250,000 to businesses that are having difficulties obtaining funding through traditional routes.
In addition, the government has also launched an Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme, providing guaranteed loans for small businesses which turnover up to £25m; and a Capital for Enterprise Fund, which guarantees loans to businesses with a turnover of up to £500m.
Jeff Moore, Chief Executive of emda said: “The terrific attendance at the Survive & Thrive events clearly demonstrated that there was, and still is, a great demand from businesses to receive practical advice and support to help them through the current economic difficulties. We have built on the success of these events by publishing a regular e-newsletter on the Survive & Thrive website. It gives accurate, well-informed advice and support to help businesses deal with the challenges ahead so that they can hopefully not only get through the downturn, but also thrive and grow when the upturn comes.”
Companies can view the latest Survive & Thrive newsletters by visiting www.surviveandthrive.org.uk, where they can also access presentations from the events.
To access information, advice and support to help your business, call 0845 058 6644 or visit www.businesslink.gov.uk/eastmidlands
-ENDS-
Issued on behalf of Business Link and emda by Lava. For further information please contact Matt or Lindsey at Lava on 01522 842800 / 07870 567 968 or matt@lavapr.co.uk / lindsey@lavapr.co.uk
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Notes to editors:
About emda
• East Midlands Development Agency (emda) is one of nine Regional Development Agencies in England, set up in 1999 to bring a regional focus to economic development.
• Working in partnership with public, private and voluntary organisations the aim is to deliver the 2006 Regional Economic Strategy (RES) ‘A Flourishing Region’, which sets out regional priorities until 2020.
• The RES, coordinated by emda, highlights the themes of productivity, sustainability and equality and builds on the previous two strategies; ‘Prosperity Through People’ and ‘Destination 2010’.
• In early 2007 the National Audit Office announced emda had received the highest possible grade of ‘performing strongly’ in an independent assessment of our work – scoring 22 out of 24.
• For more details visit www.emda.org.uk.
About Showcase Market and Sell
· Showcase Market and Sell is being managed by Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber on behalf of the East Midlands Development Agency (emda) and is delivered in conjunction with the local Chamber of Commerce in each county.
