University hails first cohort of Help to Grow graduates

The University of Derby has hailed the first cohort of students to graduate from a management programme backed by the Government.

The university’s Business School was one of the first in the UK to be selected to deliver the Help to Grow scheme.

The scheme, which is 90% funded by the Government, was introduced to help businesses to scale up as the country recovers from the pandemic.

It was designed in partnership with the Chartered Association of Business Schools to support senior managers of small and medium sized businesses to boost their business’s performance, resilience, and long-term growth.

The programme is delivered through both online learning and face-to-face teaching, supported and guided by professional mentors and tutors who have industry knowledge, as well as experience managing and leading their own businesses.

Since launching the programme, the university has taken on responsibility for delivering the scheme across the East Midlands, West Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber.

Angela Tooley, enterprise development manager at the University of Derby, said: “We are proud to be a partner in delivering the Help to Grow: Management programme.

“Our hand-picked delivery team all have real-life relatable experiences to share from their own business careers and understand the pressures of working in a small business.

“Many small business leaders are time-poor and often struggle to find time to plan the future and engage with likeminded ambitious leaders.

“Our current participants are seeing the results both personally and professionally.

“Seeing the impact straight away from their actions they quickly start to reap the benefits of taking time to work on the business, rather than in it.”