Oxfordshire’s business community are being encouraged to sign-up to the county’s Local Enterprise Partnership annual event and receive free support and guidance via its team of business advisors.
The yearly OxLEP conference – which has historically seen dozens of the county’s business leaders and representatives from across Oxfordshire’s SMEs gather – will this year take place on 30 October at the Oxford Belfry, near Thame.
As well as presenting an opportunity for businesses to gain a better understanding of OxLEP’s achievements over the past 12 months and create a chance to look into the future too, the event will also see a number of advisors representing OxLEP Business and OxLEP Skills on-hand to offer critical, one-to-one guidance on topics including:
- Marketing
- Leadership
- Growth
- Sales
- Start-up support
- Apprenticeship Levy (pledging and accessing)
- Apprenticeship completions
- Community Employment Plans
At the event, delegates can receive advice and support on those topics with the view of gaining further guidance through OxLEP Business or OxLEP Skills’ range of programmes, tailored to support those starting out, growing or moving onto a new business challenge.
OxLEP’s annual event begins at 9.30am with business advisor sessions and networking running through to 11am, prior to a main conference which will see OxLEP offer an update on its achievements over the past 12 months, as well as highlighting its future plans.
From 1pm, delegates are again welcome to discuss challenges and opportunities with advisors, through to an event close of 2pm. Visitors will receive refreshments throughout.
Rob Panting – Communications Manager at OxLEP – said: “Our annual event primarily gives us the opportunity to tell the county’s business community the many success stories relating to our work, highlighting the positive impact we have made right across Oxfordshire – but it’s also the chance for us to meet people and businesses who are new to OxLEP too.
“With this in mind, we are keen to hear from those organisations who are perhaps unaware of our work and indeed, those already close to us who are possibly embracing a new opportunity, where we might be able to offer some further guidance and support to ensure positive decisions are made.
“If you haven’t done so already, we would encourage you to sign-up to our annual event.”
WATCH: OxLEP Annual Event 2022, at The Curzon in Oxford
Over the past 12 months, OxLEP has successfully supported Oxfordshire businesses in numerous ways, via projects that make animpact across several business ‘touch points’. This includes hundreds of Oxfordshire businesses continuing to receive bespoke business support plans via OxLEP’s online business support tool.
Further specialist support has been provided to the county’s business community through a number of additional schemes, including its Visitor Economy Renaissance Programme – itself, providing over £600,000-worth of support to tourism-focused companies in February this year via the programme’s visitor economy grant scheme.
This, as well as the longer-term support that was offered through OxLEP’s European Regional Development Fund-backed programmes, eScalate and Innovation Support for Business (ISfB). Collectively – across the lifetime of both programmes – eScalate and ISfB generated close to 12,000 hours of business support to Oxfordshire organisations, before they closed in early-summer.
Meanwhile, OxLEP continue to play a critical role in enhancing apprenticeship provision in the county thanks to its Social Contract programme.
The Social Contract has, to-date, secured over £1 million-worth of apprenticeship levy pledges from large Oxfordshire businesses, ensuring small businesses can in-turn access funding for their own apprenticeship provision.
This has so far included SMEs creating apprenticeship openings a variety of sectors, including in engineering, construction and health and social care – opportunities which would otherwise be lost to the county, with levy funding returning to the Treasury.
More widely, OxLEP’s £107.5 million Local Growth Fund programme is set to see 9,700 jobs created for Oxfordshire by 2030 through its collective projects, whilst – in- turn – supporting 2,800 new learners and enabling a further £850 million of funding.
Over the last year, OxLEP have also looked to engage business leaders – and those looking to get into business – via a number of new methods too, including the launch of its first podcast series, OxTalks.
