We have seen many local business successes over the past month which is great news, and it was fantastic to see so many of you attend our Business Plan workshop last month to discuss the plans for our County. Thank you to all who participated – there were some great discussions and feedback, which is being incorporated into our future plans and is now available on the workshop website. For those who were unable to attend, there are still many opportunities to get involved and so please do get in touch with the team.
Last month, five Worcestershire companies were awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise, a fantastic achievement for our County. Bromsgrove-based Winsted, Orchard Valley Foods in Tenbury Wells and Kudos Blends Ltd in Cleobury Mortimer received the Queen’s Award for International Trade, whilst Worcester companies, Greenlighting Ltd and PCA Predict won the Queen’s Award for Innovation and congratulations to you all.
Earlier this month, the Wonderful Worcestershire Women Awards celebrated some of the County’s most successful females in business. I am pleased that the Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership sponsored an award and I would like to also congratulate all nominees, finalists and winners for their achievement.
I would like to remind businesses that the Worcestershire Growth Fund, which deadlines this week on 13 May, has grants of up to £100,000 available to support the County’s growing businesses to and create sustainable jobs in Worcestershire. More information on the Growth Fund is available on our website. Three rounds of European Regional Development Funding (ERDF) are also open until 27 May around information and communications technology, environment and resource efficiency and SME Business Support and so do find out more and ensure you submit applications in good time.
Last month, Worcestershire LEP welcomed its new Business Board Members: Stuart Allen, Founder and Managing Director of #WorcestershireHour (Worcester Enterprise Ltd), Jennifer Appleton, Operations Director of ISO Quality Services Ltd., Robert Champion, Partner at Halls, James Pritchard, Managing Director of Heartbeat Manufacturing Limited and James Speller, Pre Construction Director at Speller Metcalfe and I look forward to working with you all. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Roy Irish from Financial Partnership and Support, Jacqui Bayliss from Harris Lamb, Bob Brown from the Institute of Directors and Zad Padda from Vicarage Nurseries, who stepped down having served their term on the Business Board and whose contributions have been significant.