Minister raises glass to the work done by business growth hub
SMALL Business Minister Andrew Griffiths has made a visit to GC Business Growth Hub in Manchester city centre.
He met director of business growth Richard Jeffery and Donna Edwards, the managing director of business support and business finance, to discuss the benefits of support from growth hubs for startups and SMEs.
Richard and Donna talked about how GC Business Growth Hub has engaged 37,000 businesses and provided support to over 9,000 businesses in Greater Manchester over the last seven years.
Richard said: “As soon as Andrew Griffiths was appointed in January, I extended a personal invitation to his office, offering him the opportunity to visit and to find out more about the support we provide to businesses across Greater Manchester.
“Today has been a fantastic opportunity to show how innovative approaches to business support are helping entrepreneurs to make their dreams of starting and growing a successful business reality. SMEs are the engine room for the UK economy, and growth hubs like ours are crucial in ensuring today’s SMEs survive and thrive.
“We were also able to talk about some of the work we’re doing across the North, like leading the network of northern growth hubs to help boost productivity in SMEs across the whole of the region.
“Andrew Griffiths was particularly interested in our national work, including our mentoring programme that is increasing productivity in the manufacturing sector.”
Following the meeting he participated in a round table with representatives from seven Greater Manchester companies. These included work wear company Tibard from Dukinfield, Stockport clothing supplier Creative Apparel and Manchester cloud-based app developers Shaping Cloud.
In a lively exchange, topics discussed included the key role that SMEs play in the evolving Greater Manchester Local Industrial Strategy, digitisation to boost productivity and the importance of inclusive growth.
Earlier in the day, the minister visited GC Business Growth Hub client Seven Brothers brewery in Salford. With support from the Hub, including help sourcing suppliers and guidance on logistics, the brewery has created 15 new jobs in the area and has doubled its brewing capacity to over 60,000 pints a week.
The company is selling over £50,000 worth of beer a month and is set to reach year-on-year turnover of £1.5m by the end of 2018.
The Minister said: “This government is fully behind the entrepreneurs delivering jobs, growth and greater choice for consumers.
“I was pleased to visit the Greater Manchester growth hub to see how it is supporting local SMEs to start up and grow.”