It has been two months since the East Midlands Development Agency (emda) staged its biggest ever business support events to help Lincolnshire 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 the Survive & Thrive event 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.
Dan Ellmore is the Director of the Lincoln-based award-winning Ellmore Consulting. Mr Ellmore attended Survive & Thrive as he wanted advice on how he could best support his clients to develop their products against the backdrop of the economic downturn. Mr Ellmore said: “It was good to hear that I am already doing many of the right things to advise my clients on how to get their products to market and to support their business growth. Since the event I have been able to build more recommendations into my existing support packages.”
Also in the audience was Simon Shaw, Director of one of the country’s leading design consultancies, Optima, attended Survive & Thrive as he wanted to hear if his business planning was going to put the Lincoln-based company in the best position to come through the economic downturn. Mr Shaw said: “It’s one thing to be developing exceptional design solutions for our current clients but we also need to make sure we’re thinking about new services, new customers and new markets so that we can develop our business during difficult times.”
At the time of the event, Mr Shaw was concerned that the national media were talking-up the recession and that businesses would become distracted. Two months on, he said; “The Lincolnshire Survive & Thrive event helped us refocus on planning ahead and become more aware of opportunities moving forward, so it was well worth attending.”
An event is being delivered by Lincolnshire 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 Epic Centre, Lincoln, on Wednesday 25 March 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.
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
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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.
