Who are the workshops aimed at?
The workshops are aimed at companies and social enterprises throughout Scotland and internationally although are primarily focused on HIE Account Managed businesses and social enterprises. Participation is subject to a selection process using criteria based on business growth aspiration and global potential. The workshops are aimed at CEOs, directors, executives and other ambitious staff from businesses who fit the following criteria:
- are committed to improving long term customer relationships by enhancing the value delivered by the business
- are committed to enhancing the company's revenue and profit performance
- are interested in building a company that can successfully compete on the global stage.
Who will be teaching the workshops?
The workshops are delivered by experienced entrepreneurs who are highly credible in both the international business and academic worlds. They have the experience, knowledge and global connections that businesses value and consistently deliver on what they promise to Highlands and Islands businesses. The Global Entrepreneurship Team, who will be delivering the EGP workshops in the Highlands and Islands, includes:
Bill Aulet - Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management and Managing Director of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center. Bill Aulet is a highly successful business leader with over 25 years of experience in all areas of high technology business operations and financing strategies, from start-ups to public companies.
Ken Morse - Visiting Professor ESADE Business School, Spain and Chair in Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Competitiveness, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. Ken Morse is a serial entrepreneur and has been a high performance leader in global high tech sales and sales management for over 35 years. He has started six high tech companies.
What format does the course take?
The Entrepreneurs Growth Programme consists of a series of workshops which will be run in sequence over the period 2009-2012. The workshops will be delivered in the Highlands and Islands region to up to 30 high growth businesses per workshop and will cover the following topics:
- Entrepreneurial Marketing
- Designing, Leading and Building a World Class Management Team
- Operational Excellence
- Entrepreneurial Financing for Growth
- Global Sales Strategies
- Entrepreneurial Leadership, Strategy and Culture
The workshops are designed to encourage businesses to support one another and build networks with each other to provide ongoing peer-to-peer support beyond. Additional experts are brought in to each workshops to judge the businesses progress throughout the workshop e.g. judging elevator pitches to potential customers and investors. These experts come from the investment community, legal profession, experienced entrepreneurs, networking organisations, academia and government. Their role is to advise, mentor and connect each business to other expertise amongst their extended networks.
The workshops will also be complemented by a virtual conference with the workshop leader delivering a live key note speech to businesses across the region. The event is may also be made available to business not attending the workshop in video format with HIE's website.
How much are the workshop?
- Each workshop is £395 per person for businesses based in the Highlands and Islands and £495 per person for businesses based outwith the Highlands and Islands.
- This fee includes the course book and all materials, lunch on both days 1 and 2, a networking reception and dinner on day 1 of the course.
- Accommodation costs at the venue are not covered in the course fee except for businesses travelling to attend from islands within the HIE area.
Why is HIE supporting this?
This project fits well with the Government Economic Strategy and will impact on many of its strategic priorities. It specifically aims to address the strategic priority of creating a 'Supportive Business Environment', with particular emphasis on:
- Increasing productivity and competitiveness
- Stimulating economic participation
- Increasing GDP Growth
- Ensuring growth is shared and sustainable
- Responsive and focused enterprise support to increase the number of highly successful, competitive businesses
- A broader approach to business innovation in Scotland that moves beyond viewing innovation as the domain of science and technology alone
- Addressing gaps in access to capital that are constraining Scottish businesses to grow, while helping to build capacity in the investment community
- Targeted support to business in the pursuit of opportunities outside of Scotland and the development of internationally competitive firms.
HIE's priority is to support businesses of growth and those with growth potential with the aim of developing an entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Highlands and Islands. This series of workshops fits with that priority and will also succeed in raising the ambition, confidence and skills of individuals and businesses in the Highlands and Islands region.
What are the benefits for participating businesses?
Participation supports businesses:
- Develop key entrepreneurial and business skills
- Engage in international business development to find more customers
- Develop new or improved products, processes or services developed
- Consider potential for creating a new business
- Accelerate business and personal growth
- Engage in knowledge transfer activities
- Implement strategic change within the business
- Access new networks locally, nationally and internationally
- Access new partners, suppliers and customers
- Access external investment channels
- Benefit from peer to peer support
Signs of success will be where businesses are:
- Operating on a global scale
- Larger in scale and size
- Pro-actively accessing and attracting investment in to the region
- Collaborating on a business to business international basis
- Increasingly involved in international programmes e.g. Global Scot, Saltire Fellows
- Engaging in new models for collaboration with academia
- Increasing the levels of research income in to the region
- Increasing the levels of commercialisation activity
- Increasing numbers of highly skilled migrants moving in to the region
- Relying less on public sector support
- Celebrating and promoting success stories widely
Have other businesses already seen benefits from participating on anything similar?
Key impacts reported from businesses who have participated on the Business growth Programme include:
- Over 85% of businesses who have participated on an EGP or EDP course consider the project to have been very influential on improving their business performance.
- Have gained advanced business skills
- Have found clarity on strategic direction
- Have increased confidence
- Successfully attracted new customers
- Are penetrating new markets
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