A programme of support to help individuals, new entrepreneurs and businesses in Barrow to grow and prosper is underway thanks to funding from the ambitious #BrilliantBarrow Town Deal programme.
The Barrow Business and Enterprise Support Project is now offering free, tailored support through a range of workshops, webinars, training, help to access wider supply chain opportunities and 1-2-1 adviser support which includes a business review/diagnostic.
Cumbria Business Growth Hub and Cumbria Social Enterprise Partnership are working together to deliver support which runs until 31st March 2024.
Lesley Robinson, Head of Business Support at Cumbria Chamber of Commerce, said: “We’re really excited to be able to support individuals and businesses in Barrow through the Barrow Business and Enterprise Support Project.
“We’re keen to hit the ground running and will be working to forge links with referral organisations and key groups in the area to ensure we can offer this free support to as many individuals and businesses as possible.
“Through our partnership with CSEP we can also extend the offer to social enterprises.”
Rob Randell, CSEP Chair: “CSEP is pleased to be working in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce to deliver business support to further develop our local Social Enterprise sector in Barrow and as part of the Brilliant Barrow Town Deal. Social Enterprises in Barrow run some vital local services across the borough at a community level. They provide employment and training opportunities, often to people who may struggle to find these elsewhere. This programme will give the chance to create new Social Enterprises and further support the existing sector.”
Starting in January we’ll be running a 2hrs online ‘Introduction to self-employment’ workshop aimed at those thinking about running their own business. Then in February we’re also running our first three day business start-up course at The Forum on Wednesdays 15th and 22nd Feb and 1st March.
We’ve also got the below training sessions booked:
Back to basics – understanding your accounts
26th January 2023 – 10am to 1pm – Online
There are three accounting terms you really need to understand when running a business: balance sheet (statement of financial position), profit and loss account (income statement) and cash flow statement
In this three hour, practical, back to basics workshop Maria Ramsdale of Maria Ramsdale Finance Ltd will help you answer questions such as:
- What is turnover?
- What are the elements in my cost of sales and how to calculate the margins?
- What is gross profit?
- What’s included in my administrative expenses?
- What is net profit and how to calculate it?
- How to calculate your stock days and debtor days
- How much do you really take from your business – understanding dividends
- How to calculate important KPI’s for your business
- Can your business pass the Acid Test?
- Understanding of terms like EBITDA
Using Canva for your business graphics
28th February 2023 – 10am to 12noon – Online
Discover how Canva can transform your social media feed, your blog posts, your presentations and anything else in your business which needs to look amazing – and all for FREE!
If you haven’t discovered Canva in your business yet, you’re missing out on a brilliant resource which might just revolutionise the way you promote yourself.
Canva is a FREE online tool (with a low-cost paid option available too) which makes the task of image creation as simple as ABC.
It requires ZERO design skills, ZERO artistic ability and NO technical wizardry whatsoever.
In this 2-hour online presentation, self-published author and digital marketer Paul Teague will demonstrate how you can easily create images, graphics, videos and even websites and print products using this amazing online design tool.
In this step-by-step, how-to training you will learn:
- Where to find all the essential bits in Canva
- How to power up your social media images so they leap off the page
- How to create banners, blog images and more with the simple built-in tools
- How to create amazing videos for your business with no special skills required
- Canva’s hidden powers and how you can create marketing promos you never even thought you needed
- A sneak peek inside a paid Canva account
So, stop struggling with Photoshop, throw your old copy of Paint into the bin and learn how to do things the Canva way.
With 3hrs or 12hrs of support on offer, we’ve already signed up a number of individuals and businesses. To take advantage of this free support please call 0844 257 8450 or email info@cumbriagrowthhub.co.uk