Fabian Eagle
Councillor for The Brecks Division, NorfolkNorfolk County Council Cabinet Member for Economic Growth, Fabian Eagle, discusses initiatives to support SMEs
With over 100 miles of coastline, significant historic and cultural assets, rural landscapes, coastal communities, market towns and three urban centres, Norfolk boasts a unique and distinctive identity, strengthened by its people’s passion and pride of place. It’s the perfect location for a business to thrive and enjoy that great work life balance, in beautiful surroundings.
There are over 38,000 Small businesses in Norfolk, like other parts of the UK, SMEs are truly the backbone of our economy. Supporting small businesses is crucial to a healthy economy, job growth, and community satisfaction. A town or city with a thriving small business environment encourages people to stay. As a result, local workers may shop locally, as well, maintaining the cash flow throughout a town.
Innovative Solutions
In Norfolk, we are increasingly being recognised as a trailblazer in developing innovative solutions to support our SME growth. In a difficult economic environment, where financial resources for local councils are becoming ever scarcer, it is increasingly important to think differently about how we can best support our local businesses to flourish; and for us to work within partnerships to make best use of limited our resources.
In addition to the valuable grant support and advice provided by our Growth Hub service, at Norfolk County Council, we have prioritised SME support through the pillars of ‘innovation’, ‘enterprise’, ‘digital technology’ and support for ‘skills for the future’.
Recent Innovate UK funding rounds have seen Norfolk businesses receive just under £1 million in grant funding, thanks to our Innovation Grant Mentoring Project. The scheme is designed to guide businesses through the notoriously difficult challenge of applying for innovation grants by assigning a specialist mentor to help businesses consider innovation ideas and helps prepare their bid proposals for submission.
The project was created Norfolk County Council, in response to a low take up of Innovate UK funds by Norfolk and Suffolk SMEs, to address a market failure (less than 0.4% of Innovate UK funds within UK are secured by Norfolk and Suffolk SMEs). The project has been a huge success, due to the support and collaboration of a diverse board, which includes economic development teams from both Norfolk and Suffolk County councils, representatives from the universities, enterprise partnerships, Innovate UK Edge, Innovate UK KTN, the Local Enterprise Partnership and Growth Hub.
High Impact
Go Digital is a business support project, initially created at the end of 2020 in response to the pandemic, to help businesses adopt new digital technologies and move their business online. The project provides over 9 hours of expert 1-to-1 consultancy and the ability to apply for grants of up to £500. Applicants will be assigned an experienced business advisor who will conduct a digital audit and provide a report to identify digital opportunities. Businesses then have the opportunity to apply for a grant of up to £500, to start to implement their action plan.
Go Digital has now supported over 1000 Norfolk business since its inception, helping them to discover digital opportunities such as how to sell products and services online, reach new customers using social media, build customer databases, develop new or existing website, and attract new visitors. Feedback from businesses has been excellent, with many now able to take a better advantage of the digital world which is now so crucial to the way we work. Our Go Digital advisors have been key and are a huge benefit when helping businesses navigate tricky digital issues. The pool of advisors are also local businesses, providing additional social value from the project.
Enterprise and Skills
Any small business or start-up needing help with market research or developing business skills, finding funding sources, accessing company reports can check out their local Business and Intellectual Property Centre (BIPC). Based in libraries, BIPC Norfolk provides free access to a range of business databases and publications, guidance on protecting intellectual property (IP) and hosts networking events.
Furthermore, our Apprenticeships Norfolk service offers Norfolk businesses impartial advice about apprenticeships. From choosing the right scheme and finding the most appropriate training provider, to helping navigate the process, the team makes apprenticeships as easy as possible. The team also runs a new matching service between larger businesses who wish to donate their unspent apprenticeship levy to smaller businesses to cover apprenticeship training costs. Just under £1 million in levy transfer funds has been raised in our initial trial period.
Shared learning
I am engaging with other local authorities to share our learning and would welcome conversations with organisations who would like to learn more about our models of support for SMEs. For further information, contact econdev@norfolk.gov.uk