This month Growth Platform welcomed the local business community to the Liverpool City Region Business Support Showcase to find out about the UK Shared Prosperity Fund backed programmes that can support local businesses to start and grow, and hear from an inspiring entrepreneur.
Head of Business Growth at Growth Platform, Janice Mears, opened the event saying:
“Liverpool City Region is a thriving hub of business innovation, with ambitious business leaders turning passion into economic growth. Growth Platform are here to support that ambition, whether you are at the start of your entrepreneurial journey, or building a thriving enterprise.”
Janice acknowledged that a lot has changed for businesses over the last few years following Brexit and EU funding streams drawing to a close.
But she encouraged businesses to be inspired by the event and to keep in touch with Growth Platform so “we can continue to keep you connected with emerging initiatives that can support your business ambition”.
UKSPF Business Support
A Marketplace at the event showcased the new line up of business support funded for ambitious local business.
Place based support tailored to business start-up or supporting established businesses to grow will be delivered on a local basis within each borough of Liverpool City Region, ensuring you can connect with expert advice in your area.
Alongside, specialist support is available to ambitious businesses looking for expertise to explore exporting, leadership, business strategy, supply chain, decarbonisation, social entrepreneurship, and innovation.
More information about Liverpool City Region UKSPF programmes can be found here.
Keynote From Josephine Fairley, Co-Founder of Green & Black’s
Inspiring entrepreneur Jo Fairley came bearing chocolate to share her inspiring story of taking her back bedroom start up launching the UK’s first Fair Trade product in 1994 to a multi million pound global enterprise.
Jo and her husband Craig created global ethical chocolate brand Green & Black’s which they sold on to Cadbury in 2005 after Jo tasted delicious chocolate her husband had left out on his desk, reluctantly believing he couldn’t turn it into a business idea as it didn’t fit the mould of his existing brand.
Leaving school at 16 with 6 O’Levels and lack of confidence having been told she would “never amount to anything”, it was with great bravery Jo later invested the £20,000 she had gained through selling her flat to buy her first 2 tons of chocolate, once she explained to her surprised bank manager that this was what she was spending her money on.
Key takeaways from Jo’s talk included:
- Put your customer at the heart of your business and you can’t go wrong – reflecting on the fact they built their business without ever having put together a focus group, but understanding who they were creating their product for.
- Give away your product if you can – “Sampling is central to our strategy”. Jo added for service-based businesses “testimonials are your free chocolate”
- Decide on the best use of your time – Jo reflected that when you are a start up it is “tempting to follow every rainbow”, but working with Cadbury helped them to focus their target market at just 4 countries where they could make the most profit rather than spreading themselves thinly
- Wellbeing is important – Find a blueprint to keep your mental and physical health in good stead. “Don’t every feel guilty about putting yourself first and make sure you aren’t running on empty” encouraged Jo.
- I’m a big believer in the good old fashioned power of PR – “Guilt Free chocolate, well almost” was the title of Green & Blacks first press release sent to journalists with free chocolate.
- Use a microscope and a telescope on your business – look closely at the detail, but also be able to take a step back to see the bigger picture.
- It’s ok to get emotional about your brand – “Your brand, your product – it has your DNA” said Jo as she told the crowd how seeing her chocolate in her hotel room in Liverpool still caused her to well up with pride.
- Great customer service is vital
- Story telling is hugely important – Green & Blacks started by telling the stories of famers they were working with and the impact of fair trade.
Local Business Support Panel
The event was rounded off with a local business support panel hosted by BBC Radio Merseyside’s Jermaine Foster and featuring Craig Donaldson from Growth Platform speaking about Supply Chain support, Lesley Lambert from LJMU talking about the Low Carbon Eco Innovatory project, Nicola Higham talking about how Kindred support the social economy and Janice Mears, Head of Business Growth at Growth Platform explaining about the wide range of support available.