BOOST SPOTLIGHT | Leadership As Lancashire’s business growth hub, Boost’s role is to help ambitious Lancashire businesses realise their potential. Since July 2013, Boost has provided growth support and advice to 5,000 of these businesses across the county, creating 2,200 jobs and generating more than £74m economic activity.
But another measure of Boost’s success is the number of business leaders who have received support from Boost to achieve their ambitions and are now giving back to the Lancashire economy in their own unique way. In the first of a two-part feature, we will take a look at two examples where Boost has supported businesses through Growth Mentoring and how their growth has benefitted Lancashire’s wider business community.
When Stephen Turner from South Ribble pet and personal care products company Group55 first engaged with Boost in October 2017, the company had nine employees.
It had just moved into a new £2m manufacturing facility. As the company had grown, their reliance on third party manufacturers became increasingly problematic and Stephen recognised that he needed to take control of the manufacturing process.
Through the Growth Mentoring programme, he was matched by delivery partner Orvia with David Grant, who brought a wealth of experience in strategic business planning.
David said: “In the first meeting, we discussed the need for an honest appraisal of the business and staff. The business direction clearly needed identifying, including customer profile, new product development and the introduction of a manufacturing facility.”
Boost mentoring helped Stephen to plan strategically and effectively share his plans and ambitions with the rest of the team, leading to a steep rise in turnover and more than doubling staff. Since being mentored, Stephen has now qualified as a Boost growth mentor to help support other ambitious Lancashire business owners. Earlier this year, he started mentoring his first business client.
He said: “After such a wonderful experience of mentoring, I can truly appreciate the impact it can have on a business and wanted to be able to do for other businesses what David has done for Group55.”
Preston-based n-compass northwest is a health and care charity providing a range of prevention services for local authorities and clinical commissioning groups. Founded 20 years ago, the charity supported 32,000 vulnerable adults and young people in 2018/19.
CEO Teresa Jennings applied for Boost’s Growth Mentoring programme and after an initial discussion about Teresa’s needs, challenges and goals, Boost delivery partner Community and Business Partners identified Hamish Hamilton, a growth mentor with extensive knowledge of the not-for-profit sector. Hamish worked with Teresa to formulate a strategy to create growth without jeopardising the quality of existing contract delivery. n-compass has since increased its turnover by £1.6m to £6.5m and recruited 48 staff since 2017.
Teresa said: “Hamish was able to hold a mirror up that challenged and guided me, as well as the senior management team in the development of our growth strategy. This led to genuine growth and success. I’m not sure we would be where we are now without that invaluable support and focus.” Teresa remains engaged with Boost, recently attending a Lancashire Business View round table in partnership with Boost where she gave her views on leadership with other business leaders from the county.
The support from Boost has also delivered significant social value outcomes for Lancashire. The charity employs local people and engages local suppliers to retain money and jobs in the regional economy.
Boost is Lancashire's Business Growth Hub and is led by the Lancashire LEP (Local Enterprise Partnership) and Lancashire County Council and supported by funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Boost has received £3.8m of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is the Managing Authority for ERDF. Established by the European Union, ERDF funds help local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding.
About Growth Mentoring
Growth Mentoring is a fully-funded programme where your business is matched with a successful business person who will support you to tackle the challenges that you are facing in growing your business. The mentor will share their knowledge, experience and skills to help you develop your own growth action plan.
Over a series of one-to-one or group mentoring sessions they’ll then work with you to put the plan into action and address any barriers that may arise. The programme is delivered by Community and Business Partners and Orvia, who have successfully delivered mentoring programmes for more than 39 years. All mentors work to the International Standards of Mentoring Programmes in Employment (ISMPE) gold standard and the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) code of ethics.
To check your eligibility and start your growth conversation, complete our quick form or call one of our advisers on 0800 488 0057.
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