Salford University will host a number of free workshops for SMEs in Greater Manchester this Autumn, aimed at helping businesses recovering from the pandemic.
Leaders of SMEs across the region are invited to sign up for the events, which will focus on several aspects of driving sustainable growth in a business including management of cash flows, e-commerce and digital marketing.
Dr Maria Rana, workshops organiser and lecturer in Economics and Finance at the University of Salford Business School, said: “This a great opportunity for small businesses to tap into some world leading expertise and really learn how they deliver higher growth for their companies.”
The workshops are a result of surveys carried out by Maria which highlighted the needs of business in the region in a post-pandemic world.
Maria added: “There is a huge need for SMEs to develop and adapt their ideas and models as we move into a post-lockdown mode. Expectations of customers and consumers have changed in the past 18 months and if SMEs can tap into that, there are great opportunities for growth out there. The University of Salford is well placed to assist with this and these workshops are the first step in us trying to do that.”
One of the workshops is hosted in conjunction with EY Global and will utilise EY’s 7 Drivers of Growth framework, a tried and tested framework to help SME leaders accelerate their business’ potential.
Participants will come out of the workshop with the ability to:
- Assess their current capabilities relative to future aspirations.
- Gain insight into the practices of market leading companies.
- Clarify the strategic priorities, opportunities, and challenges.
- Validate and refine their business strategy.
- Build an action plan to help them achieve increased resilience and sustainable growth
Taking place on Friday 10 September, the action-oriented workshops will be held remotely between 10am and 12pm by representatives from Salford and EY.
The Covid-19 Business Survey was conducted in November 2020 to gauge an idea of the impact Covid-19 had on businesses in Salford. Since then, three quarterly reports have been made as a result, which have found that SMEs recognise the important role the university and Business School play in supporting local businesses.
In response to her findings, Maria has created these business workshops which will provide training and develop SME leaders’ skills to ensure they are getting the best out of their businesses, even during a pandemic.
EY are a multinational professional services network that work with a number of high-level clients such as Coca Cola, Amazon and Apple. Their 7 Drivers of Growth framework is a collation of their experience working alongside these businesses and many entrepreneurs in the past 30 years.
Useful information for SMEs from the university is available to view as a complement to the workshops.
For those who are interested, they can sign up on Eventbrite before Wednesday 8 September.
For all press office enquiries please email communications@salford.ac.uk.
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