Growth Hub launches a new business group

The Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub has marked a major landmark with the launch of a new business group.

The Growth Hub Directors’ Club has been formed to allow owners and managers of companies, which have been helped by the Hub, to exchange good practice and to form business partnerships.

Around 20 firms attended the first meeting – which came exactly a year after the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP) first proposed the idea of the Hub to Government.

The last 12 months have seen the Growth Hub established and become fully operational in helping companies – especially in the advanced manufacturing and engineering sector – achieve their growth potential by providing a wide range of support on matters including skills, planning and access to finance.

Craig Humphrey, managing director of the Growth Hub and a member of the CWLEP pitch team, said the formation of the new group indicated how well the initiative has been embraced by business.

“To have moved from a proposal to an effective and fully operational service to business in just a year is a testament to the work done by all parties involved in the Growth Hub. The single unifying aim has been to help companies across Coventry and Warwickshire reach their potential by giving them a simple route to the help they need,” he said.

“That has meant local authorities, the Chamber and organisations such as the Manufacturing Advisory Service and UKTI giving resources in all forms to ensure that the service is efficient.

“We wanted business to be able to access the support and advice they need – quickly and efficiently. The amount of advice and help out there is so vast that it often put companies off, but the Growth Hub is designed to simplify that to maximum efficiency and allow the firms to concentrate on what they do best.

“Often companies in the engineering and manufacturing sector tend to operate very independently, but we can offer them the chance to link with other like-minded firms. Already, more than 50 firms are trading with each other purely through the fact they have been connected through the Growth Hub.

“The Directors’ Club will see that increase and we will also use it to monitor how the firms rate our services and to pin point how we can improve.”

In the main picture: (left to right): Doug Squires (Squires Gear & Engineering),   Matthew Statham (Autoblaze), Rachael Delich (Growth Hub), Craig Humphrey (Growth Hub), Norman Leece (Gasfill).

Image left: (left to right): Craig Humphrey (Growth Hub), Doug Squires (Squires Gear & Engineering), Norman Leece (Gasfill), Matthew Statham (Autoblaze), Rachael Delich (Growth Hub)