The University of Portsmouth is pleased to be working with Express FM, to promote and encourage small business owners to take up a place on its government-backed ‘Help to Grow: Management Course’.
Launched by Rishi Sunak in March 2021 and aimed at senior leaders in small and medium businesses, the University of Portsmouth's fully-funded 'Help to Grow: Management Course' covers strategies for growth and innovation, leading high-performance teams and digital adoption, as well as financial management and responsible business practices.
Participants hear from inspirational business leaders, learn alongside local peers and learn from like-minded leaders with bespoke peer-to-peer networking sessions.
The 'Help to Grow: Management Course' is designed and delivered by entrepreneurs and industry experts, is accredited by the Small Business Charter and supported by the Department for Business and Trade.
It runs across 12 weeks and includes online and face-to-face sessions, 1-to-1 mentoring and peer networking. The programme is designed to fit around existing work and personal commitments. You will finish the course ready to lead on the delivery of increased profitability, innovation and growth.
Since 2021 Portsmouth Business School (part of the University of Portsmouth) has delivered the course to over 180 businesses across the south.
Now working in partnership with Portsmouth’s Express FM, the university’s Business Support Programmes Office is looking to reach even more SMEs in Portsmouth, so they can secure their place on the ‘Help to Grow: Management Course’, which includes face-to-face delivery in Portsmouth. Dan Lodge, Business Support Programmes Manager at the University of Portsmouth comments: “We are pleased to be working with Express FM, with it’s 45,000 listeners across Portsmouth. We want as many Portsmouth based SMEs as possible to be able to benefit from this government-funded business growth programme and secure their place at no cost to them.”
Express FM Station Director Miles Henson said: "It is great to be working with the University of Portsmouth on this project. With a combination of radio commercials and on-air programme sponsorship messages, we hope that this airtime campaign will help increase awareness of the ‘Help to Grow: Management Course’ and how it can help SMEs across Portsmouth."
Delivered by Portsmouth Business School in collaboration with industry experts and experienced entrepreneurs, the ‘Help to Grow: Management Course’ includes 12 weeks of in-depth training together with one-to-one business mentoring to help apply learnings and the opportunity to grow business fast. By the end of the course, a participating business will take away a tailor-made growth action plan and have confidence in how to grow their business.
Participants will take part in a mix of online and in-person learning workshops, during this 12-week course that is 90% funded by the government Department for Business and Trade. Portsmouth Business School is currently offering a bursary to cover the remaining 10%, making the programme fully-funded for SMEs to take part.
Darren Gamblen, Business Development Manager at Express FM said: "We have put together a package for Dan and his team – to include radio commercials, short marketing messages as sponsor tags during our weekday lunchtime show and we hope to have some studio interviews too with previous ‘Help to Grow’ participants."
Dan Lodge added: "We have seen many Portsmouth SMEs go through the programme already and hope that these participants will go forward and achieve growth within their businesses. With this new radio campaign on Express FM, we hope to see many more. Working with Darren and Miles at Express FM is wonderful, they have been really helpful in getting us on the air."
For more information on the project please visit https://www.port.ac.uk/collaborate/business/business-services/help-to-grow-management
