The national Government-backed GrowthAccelerator has had an impressive first year since it was launched in May 2012 to support businesses looking to double their turnover in the next three years. Over 8,000 businesses nationally have signed up for the service, and St John’s Innovation Centre is already engaged with over 130 local companies looking to achieve this level of growth.
The St John’s team of growth managers and business coaches have supported companies in the Greater Cambridgeshire and Greater Peterborough region, helping them to accelerate their growth and avoid costly common pitfalls, supporting many with developing new products, growing their team, or progressing from strategy to implementation. Working with a Growth Manager can help companies to identify and overcome their barriers to growth and provide support to improve the quality of a Company’s financial proposition or help them to develop their team. All businesses on GrowthAccelerator could be eligible for matched funding up to £2,000 per person for leadership and management training designed to help senior managers of high growth businesses build personal leadership skills. SJIC clients have so far received over £100,000 in grant funding towards training costs.
The national GrowthAccelerator service is designed to support companies who have the ambition, capacity and capability to double their turnover in the next three-five years. It is part of a flagship government initiative to drive private sector growth in the economy with an ambition to deliver £2bn of growth. It is an England-wide service, delivered locally, targeting businesses with high growth potential and the ability to grow by 20 per cent per annum by offering bespoke, intensive 1:1 coaching support to small and mid-sized companies designed around their individual barriers to growth by helping them to:
- Appreciate their true potential for growth and set achievable goals
- Identify and overcome the barriers holding them back
- Attract investment by developing their funding proposition and introducing them to funders
- Stimulate product development, commercialise their innovation and motivate their employees
- Energise their plans with one-to-one leadership and management advice
- Meet peers who’ve tackled the same barriers as them
The service can support businesses of all shapes, sizes and sectors. With experience helping thousands of businesses to unlock their true growth potential – GrowthAccelerator’s impressive coaching pool spans a broad range of expertise including high-tech, life sciences, telecoms, manufacturing, construction, logistics and food.