Many local businesses got involved in the regeneration of Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire thanks to the Business Brokers project, an initiative established in May 2002 which aimed to support and encourage organisations to work with local partners to tackle deprivation and boost the local economy.
Managed by Business Link through North Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce and funded by Advantage West Midlands, the primary objectives of Business Brokers was to develop two-way communication between local businesses and support and regeneration agencies; improve the performance of businesses in North Staffordshire; and increase business engagement with the community and voluntary sectors.
Schemes run by Business Brokers included business fairs and networking events as well as one-to-one support meetings and community involvement initiatives. Its mentoring project, ‘Lets do mentoring’, also proved particularly successful, with participants benefiting from the opportunity to develop their businesses through the expertise of other local entrepreneurs. Business Brokers also signposted other business support available and engagesd organisations of all sizes in community regeneration activity.
Adele Cope, Senior Business Broker said: “Businesses welcome information about what's going on locally and what support is available and by acting as a ‘broker’ of relationships, we were able to help different organisations to work together for mutual benefit.”
Business Brokers supported more than 1,000 businesses in the area and engaged with dozens of community groups.
One company to benefit from Business Broker’s expertise was Inspired Film and Video. In 2008, Inspired commercial director Chris Gibbs approached Business Brokers for help in linking their business into local supply chains – both customers and suppliers – and were very impressed with the support available.
Chris Gibbs said: “We heard about Business Brokers through the Chamber, and decided to contact them for some help and advice about organising a networking event to help us meet other businesses in the area. The team were really helpful and suggested we used the event as an opportunity to showcase our skills, so we coincided the event at our premises with the premiere of a documentary created by Inspired called ‘A flavour of Staffordshire’.
"Business Brokers helped us with the administration, catering and also the promotion of the event by utilising their vast database of contacts, ensuring there was a great turn out. It went so well we are now planning to do more in the future.
“Business Brokers gave a quick and able response to our request to help us meet potential new clients and gave us the ideal platform to present our work. I’d recommend them to any business in North Staffordshire looking to improve their operations.”