Market Update: We break down the business implications, market impact, and expert insights related to Market Update: Business growth hub to help add £26bn to West Yorkshire’s economy – Full Analysis.
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Firms across West Yorkshire have been told they be able to access help more quickly, simply and effectively, through a new initiative that brings together and builds on existing business support.
The new West Yorkshire Business Growth Hub – which provides access to local, regional and national support – has been unveiled by West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin.
Brabin said the hub would ensure there was “no wrong door” for businesses of all shapes and sizes to access the finance, skills, workspace, markets, innovation and promotion they need to succeed.
By bringing together a complex landscape of business support into one coherent network, the Growth Hub aims to make it easier for businesses to start, scale, innovate and decarbonise.
Brabin said: “West Yorkshire is where opportunity lives, and our hundred thousand businesses will be the driving force behind our growth and prosperity for years to come.
“Whether you’re launching a start-up, growing your order book, investing in innovation or embracing the green transition, there will be no wrong door for you to access a world of support through the West Yorkshire Business Growth Hub.
“By boosting our fastest growing sectors and backing our small and medium-sized businesses to grow and succeed, we’ll drive growth, create good jobs, and put more money in people’s pockets.”
Mandy Ridyard, business advisor to the Mayor of West Yorkshire, added: “Through our ambitious public-private plan for growth, we’re aiming to add £26bn to our economy and support the creation of 33,000 new jobs over the next decade.
“To achieve that, we must empower our businesses to create, sell and grow, by making it easier for them to attract talent, access finance, build new partnerships, and break into overseas markets.
“Our West Yorkshire Business Growth Hub is the product of extensive consultation and collaboration with businesses across the region, so we can deliver what they actually need and enable them to help us build a stronger, brighter region.”
The West Yorkshire Growth Hub is designed to simplify what can often feel like an overcomplicated landscape of support.
Instead of having to navigate multiple organisations, businesses will be able to access a co-ordinated network of partners each providing trusted support, including with:
- Finance and investment
- Skills and workforce development
- Innovation and technology support
- Markets, exports and supply chains
- Workspace and place-based support
- Networks, mentoring and promotion
Businesses which register with the Growth Hub will receive information directly to their account, to ensure they get the right support at the right time.
The launch of the Growth Hub follows the publication of the West Yorkshire Local Growth Plan, which sets out the Mayor and local leaders’ ambition to close the region’s productivity gap and unlock £26bn of additional economic growth.
If achieved, this would deliver 18,000 additional businesses, 53,000 more people with higher level qualifications, over 40,000 new jobs, and £3.2bn more in annual investment.