Growth Advantage Programme for SMEs launched

Strathclyde Business School and Santander Corporate and Commercial have put together a programme aimed at helping SMEs develop a strategy for growth.

The Growth Advantage Programme complements Santander's existing Breakthrough Programme, and will provide a unique opportunity for leaders of fast-growth SMEs to take a step back from the day-to-day demands of scaling their businesses to develop a robust strategy for growth combined with a practical action plan to deliver sustained growth.

A preview of the programme was offered at an event on January 29 on campus, with the programme start date in May. Deadline for applications has been set for March 31.

Aimed at businesses with a £500k - £25m turnover, and a 20% year-on-year increase in turnover, profit or people, the programme consists of five workshop sessions:

• Growth Advantage Orientation Session
• Workshop One – Market Advantage
• Workshop Two – Operations Advantage
• Workshop Three – Resourcing the Growth Advantage
• Workshop Four – Leadership Advantage

To assist with the demands an SME can bring, workshops will take place on a Friday and Saturday with a networking dinner an integral part of each, allowing you to benefit from peer-to-peer engagement. To ensure businesses benefit from these learning opportunities, it is recommended that participants must be the founding managing director, chief executive or principal of the business with a significant ownership interest.

Participants will also benefit from:

• Access to a dedicated Growth Advantage learning environment which will support real time interactivity, discussion and debate amongst Growth Advantage participants and academics
• Dedicated Strathclyde and Santander learning materials and marketing intelligence
• Attendance at 'Pinnacles of Growth' - a regular feature of all Growth Advantage workshops where leaders of high-growth firms will present and discuss their own experiences, in an informal and relaxed setting, providing both memorable inspiration and practical guidance
• A tailored events programme informed by participants' hot topics relevant to their own particular growth strategies providing diverse insights in to the challenges faced by growing businesses and how to overcome those hurdles

The university's engagement with SMEs has recently been recognised by the silver award of the Small Business Charter, making us the first institution in Scotland to achieve this distinction. The University of Strathclyde was also honoured with a Times Higher Education Award for 2013-14, being named as the Entrepreneurial University of the Year.

For more information about the Growth Advantage Programme, please contact The Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship

Email: entrepreneur@strath.ac.uk

Telephone: 0141 548 3482