Bridging the Gap

About this event

NEL  Fund Managers has partnered with Northumbria University Business  Clinic, North East Ambition and Sunderland Software City to bring you  this event focussed on bridging the skills gap within ambitious North  East businesses and enabling them to put unparalleled growth plans into  action.

The event will highlight the fully-funded opportunities  available to North East SMEs and provide live examples of businesses who  have benefitted from these programmes, both of which have been  developed to enable businesses to exceed the plans they could put in  place with existing resources.

Agenda

• Introduction to the Business Clinic and an overview of the consultancy  services it can offer to help your business increase its competitiveness  and put growth plans into action

• Live Case Study examples of inspiring Business Clinic projects

• Outline of the North East Ambition programme and a look into how it  could help you to spot the skills gaps within your business and then  either re-train your existing team or bring in new talent

• Outline of Sunderland Software City’s new business support offer  surrounding Digital Talent Acquisition and how this can help you to  recruit top tech talent into your business

• Summary of funding available to enable businesses to monetise their new skill sets and project ideas.

• Q&A

The programmes

Northumbria University Business Clinic works with a range of businesses every year from all sectors, shapes  and sizes to scale up, and matches final year undergraduate and masters  students from the Business School to work on a consultancy basis to  solve a diverse range of business problems  and issues. These include  feasibility studies, marketing strategies, HR and recruitment/retention  strategies, finance and investment, logistics, international and  tourism. Students are supervised by experienced tutors to produce a  high-quality professional report.

North East Ambition is a programme of free support for SMEs based in the North East of  England. Part funded by the European Social Fund, the programme aims to  provide businesses with the support they need to be able to either  re-train their staff or take up new recruits through a variety of  government-supported schemes, such as apprenticeships, traineeships, and  internships. Each business that engages in the programme will be  supported by a dedicated Skills Facilitator, who will work with the  business to determine their specific requirements and develop a bespoke  plan to support them in addressing current and future skills gaps.

Sunderland Software City’s  new business support offer aims to address the varying recruitment  challenges spread across the digital sector, awarding 12 hours of fully  funded consultancy support to SMEs in the North East, who are hoping to  attract digital talent into their organisation. The organisation and our  partners, which include recruitment experts Talentheads, possess a  wealth of knowledge surrounding business growth and talent acquisition.  We will work with you to provide bespoke support, culminating in the  delivery of a comprehensive talent acquisition strategy aligned to your  business; helping you to recruit, retain and scale with ease.

NEL Fund Managers is an employee owned fund management company, committed to  strengthening our local economy by providing tailored funding solutions  and business support to small and medium-sized businesses right across  the North East of England. NEL manages two investment funds which can  offer unsecured loan funding of £5,000 up to £500,000 to enable the  growth of North East SMEs