Last month Worcestershire LEP was delighted to announce the finalists of the Worcestershire Apprenticeship Awards. A record number of entries, 30 in total, have progressed through to the awards finals, and I would like to congratulate all of the county’s fantastic apprentices, employers, schools and training providers for their achievements.
It was fantastic to see that Kimal PLC were confirmed as the first occupier at the £120million Worcester Six business park which will create up to 5,000 jobs in total. There has also been some exciting progress on other Growth Deal projects, with plans revealed for the transformation of Kidderminster railway station which was used by 1.6 million people last year. I was also delighted to see such a fantastic reception for the official launch of Cathedral Square in Worcester.
We are also excited to have opened registrations for this year’s delegation to Cyber Maryland. This will be the third event of a three year programme which has already made great strides in strengthening relationships between the Midlands and Maryland’s cyber sectors. The delegation is an important part of attracting inward investment into the county and we are now launching a new Soft Landing Offer to provide investors with a wide range of business support and the ideal start to growing their business in Worcestershire.
There are also two fantastic business support opportunities currently available that I would urge all interested local companies to apply for. Firstly, the European Union funding workshops, which provides funding advice that is tailored to attendees’ business plans and the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business programme which will deliver over 100 hours of online and in-person business support to companies looking to take the next stage in their expansion.
Finally, I would like to congratulate Worcestershire-based entrepreneur Nikki Hollier for winning an award at the My County Business Awards for her ‘Border in a Box’ product and Harrison Clark Rickerbys who are celebrating being chosen as the best Mid-Market Healthcare M&A Team by Acquisition International magazine. Congratulations also go to our Worcestershire LEP Business Board member, Stuart Allen, who has been presented an ‘Enterprise Tutor of the Year’ award from Dragons’ Den’s Peter Jones CBE for his work at the Malvern Business Academy.
