Entrepreneurs and existing businesses in Bristol can now benefit from two new fantastic fully-funded support programmes which YTKO are involved in. For anyone who has been made redundant, currently on furlough or held a dream to become self-employed, the OutSet projects offer an opportunity to build a sustainable business providing skills development, knowledge and potential grant funding. For those with existing businesses, there is a range of support available across resilience building, trading online, financial management, securing funding and more.
South Bristol Enterprise Support (SBES) and North & East Bristol Support (NEBS) offer a range of support to individuals looking to start a business and SMEs including tailored training & workshops, e-learning, events, bursaries & grants, advice & support plus webinars. The support is designed to help businesses in Bristol to tackle the current economic challenges and work towards recovery and growth.
Both SBES and NEBS are available through the West of England Combined Authority’s expanded regional Growth Hub package of support to help businesses through Covid-19.
SBES is a Bristol City Council led consortium funded by the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), with partners from the Princes Trust, the School for Social Entrepreneurs, YTKO and Knowle West Media Centre. YTKO will work with 60 businesses and 20 potential entrepreneurs, with a focus on the food, construction and engineering sectors. As part of this programme, YTKO have launched an innovative Business Resilience element, working with SMEs to help increase business survival and recovery rates in the region over the next few months. This uses their learnings from working with hundreds of local businesses since the summer with their emergency support helpline.
NEBS is part of the Universal Business Support Service, funded by Bristol City Council, West of England Combined Authority. The project runs until the end of March 2023 and will aim to work with over 2,800 businesses and residents in highly deprived areas of North & East Bristol.
SBES has already attracted over 100 enquiries and combined with the NEBS project, it will offer wide reaching support designed to enable pre-start, start-up, new and existing social enterprises as well as private businesses across a range of sectors. The projects come at a time when the global pandemic is having an impact on the economy, particularly in areas which have low socioeconomic status and are isolated from other support opportunities.
West of England Mayor Tim Bowles said:
“This new support, as part of our Regional Recovery Plan, will help entrepreneurs and small firms in in South, North and East Bristol seize the opportunity to turn their idea into a thriving business. We will only protect our residents’ jobs and livelihoods in these challenging times by supporting our businesses, and I urge people to get in touch with the West of England Growth Hub to find out how our tailored support can help them.”
Councillor Craig Cheney, Deputy Mayor with responsibility for Finance, Governance and Performance, said,
“It’s fantastic to see this type of support available for businesses, especially during what has been a very difficult year. With both the South Bristol Enterprise Support and the North and East Bristol Support, many areas of the city are covered and we are thrilled to be able to provide so many entrepreneurs and SMEs with advice, workshops, grants and more. Bristol is a vibrant city full of innovative and resilient businesses, and this support will help elevate them even further and provide new opportunities for our city.”
Toby Howkins, Project Manager for the two programmes, said,
“We are delighted that YTKO is working with the regional and local councils to provide this much-needed support to businesses across Bristol. We have a strong track record of business support provision in Bristol due to our deep understanding of the unique challenges facing the area and can provide solutions to help businesses deliver economic investment to the community. We would encourage any new or existing businesses to get in touch to see how we can help them on their business journey.”
For more information on the business support available in Bristol, click here
Businesses and entrepreneurs can find out more details about the expanded range of support available through WECA’s Growth Hub website here
