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Free enterprising advice to help businesses grow and succeed

18th October 2018

Existing and start-up businesses in the borough will benefit from a new, free advice and support service from Guildford Borough Council in partnership with Enterprise M3 Growth Hub and BE Group.

The service is called Guildford Business Growth and launches in October. It is free-of-charge and can be used by any Guildford business no matter how small or large. It includes telephone advice, face-to-face monthly clinics and three workshops on specific topics tailored to a variety of business needs.

Lead Councillor for Enterprise and Economic Development, David Bilbe says: “Guildford’s economy is one of the most vibrant outside London, featuring regularly in the top five in various economic league tables particularly around innovation, entrepreneurship, access to investment and the number of start-up businesses. Given its presence just 30 miles from London, excellent environment and quality of life, the Borough attracts a strong network of entrepreneurs and investors. Our commitment as a Council is to supporting and encouraging businesses to thrive and grow in our Borough, which in turn helps provide the prosperity and employment that people need.”

He explains: “We’re therefore very excited to announce the launch of the new service in partnership with BE Group. We are offering support via a range of channels from phone to face-to-face to ensure all businesses can access the service and use it to help them develop and succeed.”

He adds: “In recent years Guildford’s economy has grown from one with a relatively high public sector and manufacturing element to one with a much higher proportion of high growth sectors such as gaming, cyber security, life sciences and telecoms. We have also seen strong growth in professional services, legal, tourism, and food and drink. The total number of jobs in the Borough stands at just over 70,000 with a total of 7,440 businesses. Between 2012-2017, the business base grew by 15% with a high proportion of these defined as high growth and with good survival rates. Productivity is also important, often measured based on GVA per head, and again this figure of £36, 165 is above the UK and Surrey average.”

Roya Croudace, partner at BE Group says: ”We are very excited to be the delivery partner for Guildford Business Growth.  BE Group specialises in helping businesses succeed beyond their expectations through high impact business improvement initiatives, intelligent investment solutions, and brilliant and original events.  We are already working closely in Guildford providing the EM3 Growth Hub service to support scale up companies and  Guildford Business Growth allows us to extend that support across all businesses and sectors.  We look forward to working closely with Guildford Borough Council to launch the range of business advice services to support the dynamic local business community.“