In Brief: Mentor of the Year awards winners announced; Start-up grants available; and more
CONNECT Yorkshire has announced the winners of the Mentor of the Year Awards.
Shaun Mullins, partner of Baker Tilly was the winner for the Leeds area, Steve Knowles, managing director of Knowles Warwick for Sheffield, and Alan Brocklehurst partner of Sadofskys for Hull were all honoured at the event attended by over 40 of the region’s top professional service firms.
Connect Yorkshire’s chief executive Nick Butler said: “All three winners have demonstrated outstanding commitment to supporting high growth businesses as part of the Understanding Finance for Business (UFFB) programme that we have been responsible for.
“Within this framework they have provided exceptional levels of assistance and expertise, which have made a great difference to the companies we work with to further expand and prosper.”
The UFFB programme, in association with Yorkshire Forward, has seen Connect Yorkshire helping 86 businesses raise £5m in investment over the last 12 months.
:::
STUDENTS and graduates interested in setting up a business in Barnsley are being urged to apply for a share of almost £20,000 in start-up funding.
The University of Huddersfield’s Barnsley Campus is offering grants each worth £2,400 to eight promising ventures under the Enterprising Barnsley programme.
To be eligible for the grants, candidates have to be current students at the University of Huddersfield or have graduated from any university within the last five years.
The business must be launched in or around Barnsley and meet certain industry criteria as set out by funding requirements. Those successful will receive one-to-one mentoring from a business advisor and access to a number of workshops and networking events via Barnsley Business Mine.
The closing date for applications is May 16. To apply email enterprise@hud.ac.uk
:::
LEGAL firm Clarion is focusing on the private care home sector, having been appointed as legal adviser to a consortium of specialists serving the sector in the North.
Known as Associated Care Facilities (ACF), the network is a multi-skilled group comprising experienced care home owner-managers as well as professionals such as investment consultants, IT experts and land acquisition specialists.
The consortium aims to help new investors and care home operators tap into the £10bn private care home sector and is already in talks over a number of developments. It will work with existing small to medium sized operators as well as those new to the market.
:::
MORE than 200 organisations throughout Yorkshire and Humber have been given a boost in improving their customer service in a campaign backed by regional development agency Yorkshire Forward.
Yorkshire Forward helped the organisations by providing £108,500 for them to be assessed for international customer service standard Putting The Customer First awarded by accreditation body, York-based Customer First UK.
Businesses and organisations ranging from universities to manufacturing businesses have achieved Putting the Customer First as a result of the three-year campaign which aimed to establish Yorkshire and Humber as a national role model for top-class customer service.
