Strathclyde Business School (SBS) has welcomed the first cohort of Help to Grow: Management in Scotland following an intense few months of curriculum design, content creation and team training.
The 21 participants that have started their learning journey have collective revenues of nearly £28m and over 400 employees. All have ambitions for growth and the Business School is looking forward to delivering another practical programme to help them deliver their growth plans.
With responsible business at its core, this programme is a welcome addition to the support for growing SMEs and in the months ahead SBS is looking forward to welcoming more cohorts to Help to Grow: Management.
Help to Grow: Management is a Government-backed programme designed to help businesses reach more customers and boost profits. It's an executive development programme accredited by the Small Business Charter and the 12-week practical curriculum offers one to one business mentor support throughout and includes modules on financial management, strategies for growth and innovation, and approaches to digital adoption.
Designed to be manageable alongside full time work, this programme supports participants to develop strategic skills and by the end of the programme participants will develop a tailored business growth plan to lead their business to its full potential.
A total of 30,000 places will be available across the UK over three years. The programme is 90% subsidised by government - costing only £750 per participant.
John Anderson, Head of SME Growth & Board Development at Strathclyde Business School and Programme Director for Help to Grow, said, “Strathclyde Business School is delighted to be delivering Help to Grow: Management in Scotland and supporting the owners of small businesses with their growth plans.
"Help to Grow is delivered exclusively by business schools which have achieved Small Business Charter (SBC) accreditation with a proven ability to help owners of SMEs and Strathclyde was the only business school in Scotland to achieve the original SBC Gold Award in 2016, one of only 5 in the UK.
"We have drawn on our own experience of delivering impactful programmes for SMEs and Growth Companies, in particular our ScaleUp Institute endorsed Growth Advantage Programme, to help shape Help to Grow: Management and it is great to be working with our first cohort of SME leaders. We are running 6 cohorts each year for the next three years and look forward to helping many more ambitious Scottish SMEs to grow.”