Businesses need support and innovative solutions
By Alexa Greaves, small business champion for the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership and CEO of AAG.
We’re not there yet, but there’s definitely light at the end of the tunnel and reasons to be hopeful for our future. Many businesses have begun to open their doors again after months of restrictions, and there is a clear opportunity for us at the Sheffield City Region to support their recovery and renewal.
In South Yorkshire we of course have some fantastic big names, but we also have an incredible community of SMEs. So many have struggled to carry on this past year, and they need support and innovative solutions as quickly as possible. We’ve invested heavily in the support available to them through the Renewal Action Plan, working with the Sheffield City Region Growth Hub to facilitate their bounce back and accelerate their growth. We’ve been working with colleagues across the region to build a programme to deliver that support through one front door, providing expertise and guidance to find the solutions each business needs, be it financial, digital or upskilling.
Business leaders wear a lot of different hats, particularly in SMEs, and as a business founder myself I understand the pressure to spin plates and understand different company functions. A key message we want to get out to businesses is that you do not have to be an expert in every area, it’s not possible and it’s not sustainable. Leaders and owners need to focus on their skills and bring in support for the rest, and we’re ready and waiting to provide that support. Marketing is a great example of this. Marketing, particularly in the online world we are now operating in, is essential to growth but it’s not often a skill a business owner has. That is fine, but it’s imperative that they reach out for specialist support in that area to draw on the expertise of others so they can develop and grow their company.
The digital sector is the future and businesses must adapt. We’ve seen a huge increase in the support needed in this area over the past year as businesses began working remotely and operating in an online marketplace. We won’t go back to working in the way we did before, so technology and marketing is not a cost, it’s an investment for the future. It’s fantastic to see so many businesses diversify, looking at what their clients and audience are doing, thinking of new ways to work or markets to enter, and using that information to evolve. This has been a learning experience for us all and we should embrace new ways of working and new technologies moving forward.
As we look to the future and strengthen South Yorkshire’s business offering, the key areas I believe businesses need to focus on are digital, marketing and leadership training, and my message to businesses is to access the support available to them from our business advisors. When you’re in a period of adversity, it’s easy to become introverted but that is when it is most important to look outwards. At the Sheffield City Region, we’re working with organisations in both the public and private sectors to listen to our businesses, look at their challenges through a fresh pair of eyes, and develop a specialist framework of support for them. We’ve bolstered our team of Growth Hub Advisors to diversify the expertise we are offering in business development, innovation, growth, logistics, trade and exporting, and access to finance or training, and developed a supply chain focus of our Renewal Action Plan to help companies access opportunities within the supply chain. We are committed to our region’s recovery, renewal and growth, and our business community is integral to that.
Visit www.scrgrowthhub.co.uk for more information on the support available.
