Supporting small business leaders through our Help to Grow programme

It’s been more than two years since the first cohort of SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) business leaders graduated from the Help to Grow Management programme at the University.

Since then, the team—who just celebrated filling their 10th cohort—has helped more than 200 SME leaders and delivered more than 3,000 workshop hours. The numbers tell a success story for the programme and the businesses that have grown with it.

Help to Grow is a 90% Government-funded 12-week programme for SME business decision-makers designed to boost their leadership skills and business performance with them developing a bespoke Growth action plan for their business.

“We are a family-run construction company and felt we were too busy reacting and not giving ourselves time to plan as a business. I had lots of ideas but didn’t know how to implement them. Learning from the Help to Grow course and sharing ideas with other business owners has given me the confidence to put these ideas into a plan. I think I had imposter syndrome but not now – I now have the tools and a fresh approach to take forward improvements.”
Recent graduate Judy Colbran

The programme is proving a success, with thousands of businesses throughout the UK being supported. These businesses come from all sectors, from construction to a glamping site and from a mobile cocktail bar to a dental practice. Some of the graduates explain the benefits of the programme in the Help to grow video below.

Help to Grow: Management Training at the University of Brighton (youtube.com)

Professor Catherine Robinson, Dean of the School of Business and Law, said:

“Delivering Help to Grow Management has been an excellent opportunity for the school and colleagues to build up a constructive and meaningful relationship with the local SME community, with benefits including placements, student projects and knowledge exchange partnerships.”

Looking forward, the last scheduled cohorts are running in Crawley in November and Brighton in January: Help to Grow (brighton.ac.uk).