Operating as the growth hub for Oxfordshire, OxLEP Business has a host of fully-funded support for the county’s SMEs and growth businesses on offer for the new year with events covering everything from starting-up and beginning your selling journey, to more established themes around leadership and export success.
As 2024 begins, OxLEP's business team (OxLEP Business) is looking to arm the county’s businesses with the tools to unlock their business potential in over the next 12 months and beyond – with thought-provoking workshops, mentoring sessions and networking events in place to support organisations to start or continue their business support journey.
With a host of new webinars and in-person sessions, support on offer aims to simplify the business support landscape in the county and help individuals and businesses to easily start, grow and connect.
Sessions in the coming weeks include OxLEP Business’ Start-Up Club Bootcamp – beginning on 16 January – and targeting the county’s start-ups and early-stage entrepreneurs.
The series of bootcamps have been designed to encourage businesses to focus on the fundamentals of a successful start-up and develop a viable, sustainable business model.
For more established organisations looking to grow, OxLEP’s latest networking initiative, OxBOoSt, will continue to bring businesses from a variety of sectors together in person and online on a monthly, ongoing basis to seek collaboration opportunities – with the event following on from the success of previous OxBOoST events earlier this year.
Business leaders can also start the new year building their knowledge with a series titled, ‘5-A-Day for the C-Suite’, a series of short lunchtime webinars covering a whole host of themes, from AI insight – to leadership tips – to actions that can be taken on the road to net-zero.
Further events taking place in the new year include a Business Export Support Series and a Leadership Support Peer Network.
This follows on from the success of the most recent ‘Women in Business’ networking event which took place earlier this month, with the ever-popular event continuing to provide expertise and create a community that women in business can rely on within the Oxfordshire business landscape.
The impact of the business support on offer from OxLEP Business speaks for itself: during a time that is associated with a period of financial turbulence via Brexit, Covid-19 and increased levels of inflation – nearly 15% of businesses supported by OxLEP reported that they had grown by 10%, or more, per year.
OxLEP’s support has also made big strides in working with business leaders from across a range of communities and backgrounds.
Around 23% of business leaders supported by OxLEP represent BAME communities, with 45% of business leaders engaged by OxLEP being women and a further 13% stating that they have a disability.
In order to identify the support businesses may be eligible for, OxLEP Business continue to urge the county’s organisations to complete the quick diagnostic ‘Business Support Tool’ on the OxLEP Business website, which takes just a few minutes to complete, and leads to a bespoke business support plan.
Helen Brind – Growth Hub Manager at OxLEP – said: “Back in October we launched OxLEP Business and OxLEP Skills’ ‘SIGHT’ (Start, Innovate, Grow and Help to Thrive) Impact Report – reviewing our delivery from October 2016 to March 2023 – which brought to the fore the scope of the significant support and influence we have delivered across businesses of all sizes and sectors in Oxfordshire.
“Collectively – alongside the OxLEP Skills team – over the time period we engaged with over 6,200 businesses, providing them with around 18,000 hours of support and advice, worth over £28.75 million, at what was a time of real turbulence, with factors such as increased inflation, Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic all having unprecedented effects on business.
“I would strongly urge the county’s businesses – whether they have interacted with OxLEP previously – or are yet to start their business support journey – to get in touch with OxLEP Business and discover the support offer from the growth hub in 2024."
For further information and to sign-up to an OxLEP Business event, head to the OxLEP Business website.
