University awarded funding to help micro-businesses use tech to grow
Sheffield Hallam University’s Business School has been awarded funding to support 50 micro-businesses to engage with technology to boost their productivity.
Sheffield Business School is part of a consortium of business schools accredited by the Small Business Charter for their expertise in supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs who will deliver the programme.
The Leading to Grow Programme will be offered at no cost to micro-businesses across England.
Firms that employ up to nine people will be able to apply to take part in workshops around how to use existing technologies to improve efficiency and profitability.
The funding has been made available through the Government’s £9m Business Basics Programme, run by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and Innovate UK.
Due to the small size and the dispersed nature of micro-businesses, they have not routinely received planned interventions by government agencies.
The Government is now targeting this type of business due to their potential and readiness to scale-up. This is the first time that such a programme has been co-ordinated across the country.
The UK’s 1.1 million micro-businesses employ over four million people and contribute £533bn to the UK economy.
Dr Eileen McAuliffe, Dean of Sheffield Business School, said: “Sheffield Hallam University is committed to the Sheffield City Region and supporting businesses to grow and we already have a number of projects in place to enable this to happen.
“This funding will enable us to target some of our expertise and knowledge to support micro-businesses and entrepreneurs in our region to help drive future economies.”
Anne Kiem, executive director of the Small Business Charter and chief executive of the Chartered Association of Business Schools, said: “We are excited to be working with business schools to help improve the productivity of a range of micro-businesses.
“The pace of technological advances means that today’s small firms who embrace innovation will be tomorrow’s success stories.”
