Help to grow ‘perfect for what we need’

Help to Grow: Management, subsidised by the Government, can help build resilience, giving businesses a better chance to survive and thrive through what many think is a coming recession.

Delivered by the University of Salford Business School, Help to Grow: Management takes place over twelve weeks, with new courses starting throughout the year. The next one starts in September, places are available now. Teaching includes both online and face-to-face sessions with leading figures from industry and experienced entrepreneurs.

Nathan Lumb, Project Manager at the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre - the advanced materials accelerator based at The University of Manchester - is among those who have already completed the course and he said it was perfect for what his company was looking for

This business unit has been running for four years and employs around 45 people, working with businesses all around the world, including the likes of GKN and Airbus, helping them develop new products or innovate using the 2D material graphene.

Explaining why he took the course, he said: “We had had our first audit as a company and it highlighted that our strategy, although it was in place, had not been updated. We hadn’t updated anything over two years of the pandemic because we were just like everyone else reacting and trying to survive.

“So we were looking at courses to help me develop the skills to update the strategy and we came across the Help to Grow Course and we signed up straight away

“That's how it came about and it's been a really, really great course to attend. It's been perfect for what we need and just in in the right timing as well just for that course.

“I’m already using the teaching the create our new strategy, it really helped me clarify what we are trying to do. We’re looking at how we can attract new business, updating and streamlining our marketing etc. It has given us loads to think about. It made us realise we were doing some things we didn’t need to be doing.

“The whole course, from advice from a personal mentor, to the self-reflection afterwards has been useful. It has been so good we are looking at getting another member of staff to do the course.”

The programme covers several key areas of leadership, including strategy and innovation, growing national and international markets and adopting digital technology. It is open to all businesses with between 5 and 249 employees and 90% of the costs are covered by Government funding, leaving businesses to pay just £750. To find out more about the programme and how to reserve your place on the next cohort, take a look at the Help to Grow website or contact Richard Magennis at r.j.magennis@salford.ac.uk.