18 minute read
Business Growth Programme
The Business Growth Programme from Liverpool Chamber is designed to build confidence, create new opportunities and help you navigate through these truly unique times.
Fully funded through ERDF, we are able to deliver high quality sessions, webinars and events at no cost to you and is available to members and non-members of Liverpool Chamber. *Businesses are subject to eligibility.
“How can I organise and motivate myself and my team through these uncertain times?”
Working from home, remote team management and declining sales are real time challenges. All sessions on this programme are delivered by Chamber members who have gone through similar situations to yourself and are now experts in their field. They have the skills and personal experience to guide through these and a whole host of obstacles that have been thrown at the business world in 2020. They will help you redefine your people and self-management skills so you can delegate effectively and empower yourself and your team.
“Do people still want what we have to offer?” “How do we attract them?”
Are you asking yourself this on a daily basis? The Business Growth Programme will help you identify your target market and fully understand their needs so you can ensure that what you have on offer is exactly what they want and most importantly what they need! With initiative marketing assessment of your business, the programme will help you find new ways to find and attract your ideal customers with ease.
“Do we have sufficient reserves to see the business through?”
This programme is more than just events and webinars. There are practical sessions with specially designed tools to help you carry out real time financial modelling to ensure your plans make sense and help you maintain a healthy cashflow. Alongside all this you will be given one to one support from our team who will guide you through the paperwork, signpost you to additional help and/or funding and be on hand to answer any growth related questions. Everything you need to help you reach your business goals.
The Business Growth Programme funding is subject to 12 hours of participation so we have created bite sized sessions which are just an hour long and completed within 5 weeks. The programme is here to boost your business, not take you away from it!
There are two options for businesses to access this support which will be discussed and decided on during your initial conversation. No two businesses are the same and we don’t treat them as such.
Option 1 – Dedicated workshops delivered by Gary Halpin of Flourish
12 workshops delivered twice a week over a five week period so not to take you away from your business for longer than necessary.
Gary has enjoyed a successful career in the corporate world operating at Board and senior management level in Operations and Commercial positions and is responsible for many successful product launches. Since setting up his own business his company has delivered successful programmes into hundreds of businesses delivering profitable growth and jobs created in a sustainable manner.
Gary will take you through each of your challenges and help you find the right solution so your business is stronger and your feel more confident.
“The structure of the workshop works really well, Gary’s business acumen is great and he has extensive knowledge of different sectors which is very useful. I recommended the workshop to one of my business colleagues after week one and I would have no hesitation to recommend it to others.” — Diane Cannon
“Gary Halpin from Flourish provided an easy to follow course with practical examples that could be immediately transported into my own business. The course has had an instant impact and will undoubtedly benefit my business in the long run.”— Chris Pearson
Option 2 – Personal invitations to a selection of webinars delivered by Chamber Members
We understand that there may be a number of areas you would like to explore to support the growth of your business. To meet that need we have a suite of webinars and events both live and prerecorded that cover topics such as digital skills, change management and social media marketing.
These sessions are delivered by experts in their field and have been hand selected to give you a range of options.
Again thanks to the ERDF funding, these sessions are at no cost to you. To find out more and to check your eligibility visit http:/eepurl.com/gZXHCb
Independent CBILS Funding
for Your Business
Have you struggled to get funding to support your business through the COVID-19 crisis via traditional routes? Independent CBILS intermediaries, Bathgate Business Finance provide alternatives.
Image taken prior to COVID-19 outbreak
Since the beginning of May, Bathgate Business Finance has written £3.4 million worth of deals on the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), many of those for businesses that could not secure finance through traditional means.
On average, the process from application to receipt of funds is less than two weeks.
If you think you will not be able to secure finance for your business, or that the funds will not arrive as urgently as you need them. Contact us today, we may be able to help.
We are an approved intermediary for a number of independent CBILS funders and we are able to help eligible SMEs navigate the relevant loan application processes quickly and efficiently, and by completing the applications on your behalf, we are giving it the best possible opportunity to succeed.
We are able to apply for CBILS loans from £50k to £5m and currently our acceptance is 62 percent - 10 percent higher than the national average. In the past seven weeks we have secured funding for 25 businesses across the region, from a variety of sectors, these include:
Business
Software Company Accountant Manufacturer Construction Company
Hospitality Company CAD Company
Amount £199k £89k £250k £450k
£250k £250k Product
CBILS Loan CBILS Loan CBILS Loan CBILS Loan & Asset Refinance CBILS Loan CBILS Loan
Am I eligible for support?
and conversion rate for CBILS applications
To be eligible for the CBILS loan, your business must be UK-based with a turnover of less than £45 million, with more than 50 per cent of that coming from trading activity, rather than investments.
As well as having been adversely affected by the coronavirus, the loan should primarily be taken for business purposes and activity in the UK.
If you are not eligible for a CBILS loan, there are still other options that our team
CBILS Benefits
• Borrow from £50k - £5m • Loan period from 12 months - 5 years • No repayments periods starting from 6 months to 12 months • Low rates available • No personal guarantee up to £250k • No admin fee • Most decisions within 24 hours • Selective Invoice Discounting - no fees for the first 12 months can advise you on, including CBILSbacked Asset Finance and CBILS-backed Invoice Discounting.
Turnaround
Two weeks One week Eight days Two weeks
Status Fully paid Fully paid Fully paid Signed
One week Five Days to approval
Fully paid Pending payout
Requirements
• Last two years’ accounts • Last six months’ bank statements • Basic finance application form • GDPR consent forms
Helping you find the right business finance, when you need it most.
Contact:
Re-imagine, re-focus & restart
It’s work, but not like you knew it...
As business owners, how do we begin to think about re-starting as we cautiously emerge from lockdown? Over a period of 12 weeks, we were forced to abandon so many of our ‘normal’ rules of operation. Organisations that had a five-year-plan in progress to make remote working possible made that change overnight.
We found innovative ways to host meetings and planning sessions. We learned how to continue growing businesses from our kitchen tables, toy rooms and sofas. In short, we re-imagined the way everything could work.
And as we were all forced to stand still, it was technology that kept the world ticking over.
That’s why there’s never been a more important time to re-focus and invest in your digital strategy. Lockdown forced you to re-imagine what a new working life could look like. It’s technology that will allow you to implement that vision as you ‘restart’ in this brave new world.
Why Re-Focus?
To make the most of re-starting your business, you need to test it to see where improvements can be made. This could be in processes and procedures, how you communicate with your clients, or even how, when and where your team works.
It’s a bit like taking an eye test. When your vision is slightly out of focus, everything is fuzzy and your eyes just aren’t working quite as well as they should be. But then your optician makes a tiny tweak, changes a lens and - hey presto! - everything becomes clear again. When we talk about re-setting or restarting a business, you first need to do the same. You need to re-focus and to do that, you can benefit from a fresh pair of eyes. Having someone external come in and help you look at what your business does well, what value you deliver for your clients and the role that technology plays in all of that, can give you that moment of clarity.
Then you can identify where digital and tech can take up some of your heavy lifting to deliver benefits for you, your staff and your customers. That’s exactly what the Mashbo team does with its robust planning and scoping process, looking at four key areas:
1. Digital Declutter
What systems and processes did you find you could live without? What expensive platforms were suddenly rendered defunct, when your workforce went remote? What labour-intensive tasks could tech be doing for your team?
2. Strategy Review
After moving your employees to remote working in a matter of days, or pivoting your product online, even in a roughand-ready way, do you still think those ambitious tech goals you had in your five-year or ten-year plan are still out of reach? Does your digital strategy still fit the business that has emerged from lockdown, or is it time to tear it up and start again?
3. Define Objectives
Tech should never be built for tech’s sake. It should serve a particular objective that helps your business to move forward, whether you’re re-setting and heading towards a new destination, or restarting your journey to an existing business goal.
4. Futureproof Flexibility
Some tech solutions are good for right now, but what about in one or five years’ time? What if the world experiences another seismic shift? Will the tech you have invested in allow you to pivot, react and even survive?
Addressing these key areas will allow you and your business to put a marker in the sand. It will allow us to help define your objectives and plot a course to your intended destination, a roadmap to a place where your investment will be tangibly demonstrated.
If you’d like to review your digital strategy or would like to map out a new one, why not get in touch at hello@mashbo.com or visit Mashbo.com
Liverpool has set out an
unprecedented £1.4bn plan to help boost the nation’s economic recovery and preparations for a post-Brexit economy.
The city has submitted a 178-page report to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor outlining how the city aims to prevent a socio-economic crisis deeper than the 1980s recession, with a multi-layered programme which if delivered, will create 25,600 jobs, provide an additional 12,000 construction jobs and more than 9,700 apprenticeships.
Commissioned by the Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson, this fully costed post-Covid recovery strategy sets out a five-year vision that also underlines Liverpool’s key strategic role as a global gateway in postBrexit Britain.
Co-signed by the Metro Mayor of Liverpool City Region, the Liverpool Economic Recovery Plan (LERP) also has the backing of 72 leading figures from the city’s commercial, legal, financial and cultural sectors including Liverpool FC Chief Executive Peter Moore, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool Professor Dame Janet Beer and John Cummins of the fund Legal & General.
The LERP report focuses on four key themes – Innovation, Housing, Employment and Creative & Visitor – with the goal of delivering hundreds of millions of pounds of investment to the city and wider region across key sectors in the knowledge economy, construction industry and cultural community providing jobs and supporting people in accessing lifelong careers in the areas which will drive the UK economy in future decades.
Liverpool, which has been resurrecting its economic base for the past 20 years following its dramatic collapse for the preceding 40 years, has been heavily impacted by Covid-19 and Liverpool City Council has moved quickly at the outset of the pandemic to set out a strategy (initially called Project Greyhound) which ensures recent momentum is not lost.
Before Covid-19 struck Liverpool was averaging £1bn a year in regeneration investment and was steadily establishing itself as a world leading destination for medical research, digital health and life sciences. Its three universities annually educates 70,000 students and the visitor economy of the former European Capital of Culture (2008) has grown to more than £3bn a year.
In a letter to the Prime Minister introducing the plan, Mayor Joe Anderson and Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram jointly set out how the vision aims to underpin this recent growth and address the risk of mass unemployment when the Government’s emergency employment and business support measures are phased out from this Autumn.
The LERP report has identified more than 25 shovel ready projects – most of which could begin before the end of 2020. Totalling £1.4bn these projects include a new cruise terminal, an energy efficiency retrofitting project to benefit 4,000 homes, a new film and TV studio at the former Littlewoods Building, and ‘Upper Central, a £450m, 56 acre brownfield development for supporting new digital, tech and creative companies as part the next phase of the city’s Knowledge Quarter.
The recovery plan, which was co-authored by independent economic consultants Metro Dynamics, is requesting £200m of central government funding for physical construction and more than £267m for apprenticeship and skills training programmes.
Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson said:
“The Covid-19 lockdown has left cities like Liverpool in a state of economic paralysis and the option of doing two things – wait for events to unfold or take action. Liverpool has acted. This recovery plan is a blueprint for a new Liverpool. with the public and private sector united in its vision. It has been forged by ambition and a confidence to attract investment in our infrastructure to allow businesses to grow and to create new skills, new homes and new jobs.”
Working together to respond,
rebound, and reinvent through the phases of the COVID-19 pandemic
By Paul Buxton, Vice President North & Utilities, CGI UK
Organisations of every size across all sectors have faced drastic workforce changes since the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe earlier this year. Governments worldwide have enacted strict physical distancing requirements affecting just about every facet of life, and organisations have had to rapidly adjust to new ways of working. In April 2020, CGI launched a global campaign to help our clients, communities and members respond to the unprecedented challenges brought about by the pandemic, rebound effectively, and reinvent ways of working.
Globally, CGI teams have been rapidly mobilising resources and systems to help support the vital workings of society, all while keeping our 78,000 employees safe. Our campaign focuses on three important phases:
RESPOND Addressing the immediate needs of operating during the crisis Helping with the urgent work required to mobilise resources and systems to respond to the crisis and continue to support the vital workings of society
Remote Working
We have enabled rapid transition to remote working for thousands of our clients and members, through increased bandwidth, remote security, and rapid rollouts of collaboration software.
In the UK, we secured remote connections for 98% of our 6,000 members within days of the our Service Desk with no disruption to service. We also deployed an new collaboration tool in just over a month. In the Asia Pacific, we have mobilised our 15,000 Global Delivery professionals, ensuring the remote provision of seamless offshore global delivery to help our clients sustain critical services even as our own operations transitioned to the new working model.
Cyber Security
CGI has provided a rapid response to heightened cyber security risks, with our security experts worldwide volunteering time and expertise to better protect people, businesses and communities against cyber threats . To help our clients identify the threats organisations are currently experiencing , we have published two downloadable guides: COVID-19 and Cyber Security: A Quick Reference Guide for Business and Security Leaders and Cyber Security Hygiene During COVID-19: A Dos and Don’ts Guide to Share With Your Employees.
Remote Learning
We have established remote connections and virtual learning environments for children in over 1,700 schools across Europe. In the UK, we converted our successful STEM Camp Programme into virtual STEM from Home education packs for children, focusing on science, technology, engineering and maths activities to support our members and clients in balancing remote working and home schooling.
REBOUND Meeting the tactical challenges associated with emerging from the crisis
Focusing on reopening the economy and society, from finding capacity to lockdown beginning, including transitioning
meet surges in demand, to facing new business realities
Travel permits for key workers
To adapt to travel restrictions, CGI has developed a mobile app to enable the UK government to manage work statuses and travel permits, identifying key workers and rapidly authorising their travel.
Alleviating payment burden on customers
In partnership with Fintech company, Ordo, we have developed a new payment method, which allows service providers and retailers to offer discretionary flexible payment terms to customers, rapidly alleviating payment burden while maintaining cash flow.
Supporting COVID-19 treatment research
By designing and developing a new digital platform to help the Montreal Heart Institute find a potential treatment for COVID-19, CGI helped them not only respond quickly to the pandemic, but also rebound with a state-ofthe-art digital platform for managing and conducting clinical studies more effectively in the future.
Improving patient and physician care
CGI is helping a Swedish hospital improve patient and physician care and ‘flatten the curve’ by reducing healthcare staff’s administration tasks, enabling them to focus on higher value work. Use of Intelligent Automation has helped them respond to the immediate crisis, while reinventing processes to support a “new normal”.
REINVENT Reengineering operating models to enable new ways of interaction Moving beyond the short-term reopening and addressing the structural impacts to industries with new business models and practices.
Continue to invest in a Digital Strategy
CGI has shared some practical approaches to help transportation and logistics organisations prepare for recovery and beyond by advancing digitisation and reducing costs. This includes use of advanced analytics and machine learning to increase revenues and help predict demand and capacity.
Embracing the opportunities of 5G
5G is the enabler that can drive the economy post epidemic, allowing faster and better responses to future crisis through advanced technology. As a systems integrator, CGI supports the collaborative planning and implementation effort that is crucial to the success of these initiatives.
Find out more about CGI’s Respond. Rebound. Reinvent campaign at
www.cgi-group.co.uk/respond
rebound-reinvent or email Paul Buxton at enquiry.uk@cgi.com to discuss any of the initiatives above.
Innovating to survive:
Baltic Creative businesses adapt
Baltic Creative Community Interest Company (CIC) recently shined the spotlight on the reality facing its tenants in survey which revealed the struggles being faced by some of Liverpool’s digital and creative businesses.
Like the majority of sectors, digital and creative businesses are having to adapt to a new way of working in order to maintain a level of trade throughout the lockdown.
The survey of 47 tenants revealed that nearly 80% have seen their incomes negatively impacted since lockdown began, with 20% having received no income since March 2020, but many of these businesses are taking brave steps to innovate and survive.
By the end of April, 55% of Baltic Creative’s tenants had already diversified their product and service offerings in order to survive, with the majority of employees now successfully working from home.
One company that has moved to remote working is long-standing tenant, As Creatives which normally takes its creative education workshops into schools, but has now launched a new online portal, As Creatives Connect, to help children to learn in a fun way from home.
Two of Baltic Creative’s café partners, Chapters of Us and The Baltic Roastery have also diversified their offerings. No longer able to trade from its usual space, the team at Chapters of Us has set up a new online ordering service with options including brunch boxes and cocktail making kits available for home delivery. While The Baltic Roastery has been continually roasting coffee and has seen its online sale of its signature beans explode.
Further positives from the survey also showed that over 95% of the businesses have not had to make any redundancies, with 45% taking advantage of the government’s coronavirus job retention scheme. Tenant at Baltic Creative’s Northern Lights scheme, Nathan Connolly, publishing director at Dead Ink Books, said: “Throughout all of this, where there has been a lot of uncertainty, Baltic Creative has been exceptional in communicating clearly and offering support where they can.
“They have really been a constant and that has helped us get through this period when we’ve faced so much confusion from elsewhere. We know this situation must have been really hard for Baltic Creative too, and we’re greatly appreciative to them for thinking of the tenants throughout and doing what they can to help.”
Creative and digital businesses can find additional support and resources for navigating the COVID-19 crisis via the Baltic Creative website.
