Enterprise Networks

Business Growth Clubs help your business reach the next level

Business Growth Clubs are a series of informal, hands-on business workshops that introduce you to a group of likeminded people and where you can learn from experts in the field to help develop a winning growth strategy for your business.Regular sessions cover a whole range of topics vital to helping your business grow in the right direction and fight off all the competition. You’ll work with some of the biggest hitters in business on everything from banking and finance, IT and communications to sales and marketing, motivating people and using innovation and design to enable your business to stand out from the crowd.

Learn essential information and advice from experts and peers to find ways to help your business grow and flourish.

To participate in Business Growth Clubs in the region email:
Ross McNally

Young Chamber – developing minds for developing business

Young Chamber helps young people develop their own potential by understanding how business and commerce works. It is given its direction and focus directly from the voice of young people. In each school Young Chamber has its own student body and this decides what type of business engagement and activity is relevant for them.

Access to businesses is provided through the local Chamber of Commerce whose membership represents the local business community. The lines of communication are kept short and simple and as a result strong and effective relationships between students and businesses are greatly enhanced.

For more information on the Young Chamber programme:
Young Chamber

To participate in Young Chamber in the region email:
Ross McNally

The Graduate Enterprise Network – Get the GEN

The main focus of the Graduate Enterprise Network is to bring together ambitious SME leaders with students in Universities in a range of collaborative enterprise projects. Through the GEN the Universities and Chambers will provide an arena for students and SME business people to come together to develop innovative skills and business solutions.

The Network produces ground-breaking enterprise education strategies from a multi national and multi cultural perspective. It provides a direct route for students to be involved with and have an impact on their local economy by placing the voice of the student at the heart of this enterprising initiative to achieve:

• Greater opportunities for graduates to secure employment.
• A greater uptake of ‘graduates’ in placements, work readiness experience and internships.
• International network of SMEs and graduates working together in projects.
• Higher level skills bringing much-needed creativity and new innovation into the SME sector.

To find out more and participate in the GEN in the region email: Ross McNally

The Silver Chamber Network

The Silver Chamber Network targets mature employees, the self employed and business entrepreneurs by providing networks and programmes to enable them to develop innovative business solutions through business start ups and strong local partnerships. The aim of the Silver Chamber Network is to engender and support the development of local Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) by addressing the challenging needs of senior year’s employment and enterprise. This is achieved through mentored network programmes delivered in collaboration with the Chambers of Commerce and a range of partners.

To find out more and participate in the Silver Chamber Network email: Ross McNally

South East Business Crime Forum

Crime against business is a problem that is not only affecting many companies’ ability to do business but is also blighting the communities in which they are situated. Crime affects a business’ ability to meet customer deadlines, attract customers and their profitability, ultimately risking businesses closing down and putting local jobs at risk.

This type of crime is not a ‘victimless’ crime as it affects business owners, their staff and wider community as employees feel at risk and jobs are lost as businesses are forced to relocate or close down. This is a huge concern to both the sustainability of our local communities and the national economy. It is estimated that crime against business costs the UK economy a significant Ł12 billion a year.

Working together to cut crime

In order to address crime against business issues the business community have linked together with police forces from across the South East to create the South East Business Crime Forum. The forum establishes a new key partnerships focusing on four key goals:

Improve links between businesses and Police Forces.
Ensure that business crime issues are addressed in local strategies.
Identify and share examples of best practice in relation to business crime reduction.
Examine opportunities for linking into current crime reduction work, such as that on anti-social-behaviour, Priority and Prolific Offenders, Acquisitive Crime and drug related crime, so that work benefits business as well as other elements of the community.

To find out more about this valuable work visit the Forum’s website at:
South East Business Crime Forum

Safer Business Parks

The Safer Business Parks programme is organised by South East Chambers in a number of locations in the region. It addresses the needs of businesses situated on a range of business parks and industrial estates. Crime against business is tackled most successfully where Business Parks organise formal Business Park Associations and introduce strategies to protect their businesses. The development of successful strategies is based on building effective inter-agency partnerships involving Business Park Associations

To find out more and participate in or set up a Safer Business Parks initiative email:
Ross McNally