Growing your business
Are you ready to grow your business and take it to the next level? If so we have put together a list of schemes and initiatives that are available to help your business grow.
Digital marketing guide
We have put together an informal marketing guide [PDF, 0.1MB] full of handy tips and advice for small local businesses looking to increase their social media and online presence.
Local sources of business support
Allia's business support programmes are designed to help entrepreneurs to develop and grow impact ventures. The Grow Your Business program aims to encourage business growth and local employment opportunities.
Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) offers a wide range of opportunities for businesses, from professional development, through to consultancy, to support for innovation.
The Business and IP Centre (BIPC) Cambridgeshire and Peterborough supports entrepreneurs, inventors and small businesses through Intellectual Property and Market Research advice sessions and workshops, on a range of business support topics.
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Growth Hub gives local businesses access to a wide range of business support, advice, grants and events, aimed at helping businesses to grow and develop.
Get Set and Grow is a practical, result driven programme for businesses with ambitious plans to scale and grow, delivered through a mix of workshops and one to ones. The programme is funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and is delivered by the BIPC on behalf of South Cambridgeshire District Council.
The Institute for Manufacturing (IFM) at the University of Cambridge can provide consultancy and support for manufacturing businesses of all sizes.
The Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge offers resources for entrepreneurs to help you grow your business successfully through its Entrepreneurship Centre. It also offers courses in business management for executives, leaders and managers.
Let’s Do Business Group is a leading provider of business support and finance, helping businesses across the South East and East of England to start-up, grow and thrive, as well as increasing employment opportunities to grow our local economies.
Nationally available business support
Amazon Small Business Accelerator supports the UK’s thriving small business community by providing a range of free-to-use resources and events to support start-ups, entrepreneurs and small businesses.
The Federation of Small Businesses provides a range of useful information and fact sheets.
Goldman Sachs' '10,000 Small Businesses' is an initiative to help entrepreneurs create jobs and economic opportunity by providing greater access to education, capital and business support services. '10,000 Small Businesses' is funded by Goldman Sachs and the Goldman Sachs Foundation.
The Department for Business and Trade's Help to Grow helps businesses to find, access and use the information and support they need in one place. The website is aimed at upskilling both big and small businesses across the country by helping them to:
- Learn new skills
- Reach more customers
- Boost business profits
Free webinars are available from HMRC, aimed at supporting your business. A whole range of topics are covered, from trading internationally, tax advice, guidance if you are self-employed and many other helpful business support topics.
Mentorsme connects companies with mentoring organisations that can support and guide their growth. If you are a business that needs support or a business professional who can offer support, Mentorsme can help you connect with each other.
NerdWallet has created a "business growth hub" to support local businesses with a range of services for start-ups and small businesses. This includes raising finance, through to business automation.
VisitEngland’s free Business Advice Hub helps tourism businesses to grow, with free resources, advice and toolkits.
Innovation
Innovate UK has funds and competitions available to help businesses undertake a range of tasks including feasibility testing, product creation and improvement, and research and development.
Research and Development tax reliefs on corporation tax are available for projects that try to develop practical science or technology solutions, even if they fail.
Keeping your business safe
Fraud can happen to any type of business in many different ways, and no business is too small to be targeted.
Cyber-crime, also known as online fraud, affects thousands of businesses each year, resulting in increased costs, operational disruption, reputational damage, lost revenue and stolen intellectual. Below are some resources to help your business stay safe.
Action Fraud is the UK's national reporting centre if you have been scammed, defrauded or experienced cyber-crime in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
You can also report fraud or cyber-crime and get advice about them by calling 0300 123 2040.
The Eastern Cyber Resilience Centre supports and helps protect SMEs, supply chain businesses and third sector organisations in the East of England against cyber-crime.
The National Cyber Security Centre offers a practical guide for small businesses on how to make their cyber security affordable. They also have a Small Business Guide to Response and Recovery, which provides guidance about how to plan recovery from a cyber incident.
Exporting
The Department for Business and Trade’s website offers guidance for new, occasional and frequent exporters.
Cambridgeshire Chambers of Commerce offer a range of services to help exporters.
Enterprise Europe Network aims to help businesses innovate and grow internationally.
Open to Export is a community-based business service aimed at helping small and medium-sized enterprises to export.
The EU has a useful one stop portal providing practical advice on how to do business in Europe.
Social enterprises
The following websites are aimed at those businesses that trade for a social and/or environmental purpose.