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The STEP-UP programme

By Zoe Webb

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Delivery & Development Manager STEP-UP

What is STEP-UP?

STEP-UP (SME’s Transformation Engagement Programme – Universities Partnership) is an innovative skills training and internship offer to SMEs in the Coast-to-Capital region.

It offers SMEs the opportunity to build relationships with their local universities of Brighton and Sussex, and to get a fully funded graduate intern over the Summer.

In addition, registered SMEs will get access to a series of free learning and development workshops, currently being delivered remotely.

Due to the impact of COVID-19, STEP-UP has been updated to be more flexible and time-efficient for participating SMEs.

Background to STEP-UP

STEP-UP is a collaboration between the universities of Brighton and Sussex for local SMEs, current final year students and recent graduates. It was devised because data has shown that graduates tend to leave the region to seek jobs in London, so STEP-UP was created to support businesses growth through retaining graduate talent in the Coast-to-Capital region now and into the future.

Fundamentally, STEP-UP is about bridging the gap between the supply of graduates with high-level skills, and the demand for workforce-ready employees within the Coast-to-Capital Local Enterprise Partnership (C2C LEP) region.

Success so far

The programme is accessible, flexible, and time-efficient for businesses. STEP-UP has already been very popular with SMEs in the Coast-to-Capital region, attracting over 100 registrations, with capacity to support a further 30 SME businesses. Registration window

for SMEs has been extended to April 31 2021.

Why register?

Interns will be selected from a pool of 300 of the most skilled and selfmotivated graduates. Each graduate will have completed a series of employability workshops focused on skills identified as most in demand by SME employers, including: Problem solving and creativity, Understanding SME businesses, and Becoming a self-starter. Supported, free access to four online mastercalasses for SMEs, which can be attended by any staff member from the business. Plus, two recorded sessions sent to you to watch in your own time. The masterclasses are designed and delivered by industry experts on the following four themes: getting the best from your graduate intern, intern onboarding, coaching & mentoring skills and an introduction to action learning sets. Following the online masterclass series, there is the opportunity to recruit a fully-funded graduate intern for six weeks over Summer 2021.

Timescale:

Masterclass sessions have been running throughout March for registered SMEs, and will continue to run until the end of May. Internships will take place any time from the end of May to the end of August 2021.

Registration window for SMEs has been extended to April 31 2021.

Who is eligible?

To be eligible, SMEs need to be commercial businesses who are based in the Coast-to-Capital region, including notfor-profit organisations.

For more information, and to register and sign up please visit www.brighton. ac.uk/business-services/step-up or email the STEP-UP team at

stepup@brighton.ac.uk

Information about upcoming webinars available at www.brighton.ac.uk/

business-services/step-up

The Step-Up programme is co-funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) as part of the 20142020 European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme in England. Grant Reference: 04S18P02524

Reflections from BCC Director General Adam Marshall

My first day as part of the Chamber of Commerce network was a sunny day in July 2009, meeting with business leaders from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland at the St David’s Hotel in Cardiff Bay.

At that time, the UK and the world were beginning a long and complex recovery from the global financial crisis.

Now, nearly twelve years later, my time at the British Chambers of Commerce has come to an end.

Once again, our Chamber business communities are working to restart, rebuild and renew in the wake of another worldchanging period.

It has been a huge privilege to be part of the unique and special Chamber family for more than a decade. Over the last five years, I have been lucky indeed to lead the work that we do together to effect change on behalf of our business communities.

Together, we’ve influenced and changed government policy. We’ve spoken up for our communities, articulating the real-world interests of firms in every region and nation of the UK. We’ve built a stronger global network for British business, with Chambers and business groups now supporting twoway trade with over 70 countries worldwide. And as we begin life outside of the EU, Chambers have risen to the huge challenge of supporting traders and companies through a period of significant change.

Our international trade teams, and our new ChamberCustoms service, have delivered advice, training and brokerage to thousands of businesses as they adapt to new trading conditions – and we have continued to push both the UK Government and our European partners to solve the practical, real-world issues facing firms and to build a stable long-term relationship.

Over the past year, the Coronavirus pandemic has also impacted the way Chambers work, just as it has so many other businesses around the world.

Yet, as we have faced the same economic uncertainty as companies of every size and sector, our network of accredited Chambers has also grown stronger.

We have seen our business communities come together in new and special ways. As geographic distance has become less of a barrier, levels of collaboration, the sharing of ideas, and joint working on common challenges and opportunities has increased dramatically. The indispensable role played by Chambers, as cornerstones of local and regional business and global trade, has grown even more important. In every conversation, the importance of community, of belonging, and of coming together to support the places where we live and work has shone through.

Many in our communities are suffering, from businesses who have faced closure or a collapse in demand, through to individuals who have lost their livelihoods or experienced physical or mental health challenges. Chambers see and feel this acutely – and have been hugely influential in securing greater support for both businesses and their employees.

The recent UK Budget has reinforced the success of our approach, and shown how we as a Chamber Network can influence Government thinking so that as many businesses as possible can keep going until the economy fully reopens.

We have also seen significant movement on the training and skills challenges that the pandemic has only accentuated. Chambers across Britain are at the forefront of supporting young people into work, and there is great hope that a locally based approach to skills training with substantial Chamber involvement will finally emerge.

We are not out of the woods yet, and significant challenges remain.

Yet the eternal optimist in me sees innovation and progress as well, though we may still be too close to that change to be able to see it and label it as such.

But it is undoubtedly happening. Companies, and the people that sit behind every firm and every brand, are rising to the occasion, supporting each other and their people. And they are coming together, through Chambers of Commerce, to find pragmatic solutions to the issues that we face, collectively, in business.

As I come to the end of my time with the BCC, I know these civic business communities will lead the way and will be heavily involved as we work to restart, rebuild and renew.

Adam Marshall

BCC Director General

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