? text size -a +A

Growth Networks

Growth Networks

An important part of West Midlands Knowledge is the Growth Networks that we are going to support.

What are they?

A Growth Network is a group of business and professional services firms coming together to exploit a market opportunity.  The clue is in the name – networking with a clear purpose of growing your business.

Each network will be different, to meet the needs of the firms taking part.  The common thread will be that at the end of the process, each of the participating firms will have gained new business in existing or new markets.

The Growth Networks will be supported and facilitated by experts in the market area, to give you the advice and contacts you need to take the next step.

How do I sign up?

1. Take a look first in our New Markets section.  This outlines the growth areas that we think are the most promising for creating early bottom line growth for West Midlands businesses.  In each of the areas there is information on the market opportunity, a forum to ask questions and get advice and links to any events we’re holding to promote the opportunities. 

2. Once you’re clear on where the opportunities apply to you, then contact us.  You can either use the partner search on the collaboration page or contact the Knowledge team and we’ll signpost you to the expertise you need to form your Growth Network.  Or you can reply to a post on the collaboration page if you spot someone else who wants to work in the same area.  Either way, we’ll get you connected to other firms to collaborate.

3. We’ll set up a dedicated workspace on this website for you to share information and progress the opportunity.  The workspace will be confidential to you and your partners so you can use it to make your collaboration efficient and effective.  The expert facilitator will make sure you have the resources you need to get going and act as coach and mentor while you plan your activities.

And the rest is up to you!  Through the Growth Network we hope that participating firms will be showing growth in fee income and contracts within the short term, going on to long term, sustainable growth in the new market area.  Share your success with us and we’ll help you publicise your new services to grow your client base.

Want to see some examples of how it works?  There are some ideas here for you on how you could form a Growth Network to get your firm into new markets.

The small print

West Midlands Knowledge is funded by Advantage West Midlands using public sector funds. In return for that funding, we have to show that the firms we help have benefitted from the support provided.  So there are a few things we need from you to show that we have achieved those benefits.

1. We need to keep information on your business so that we can show that the firms we work with are eligible for support under AWM funding rules.

2. You need to confirm that you have not had more than the allowable level of other public sector funding over the last 5 years – there are limits under competition rules for how much support a business can receive.  If you have had more support than that, then you can still use the resources on this website, but we can’t include you in our Growth Networks for free.

3. We need you to confirm for us what increase in turnover you get as a result of taking part, and report to us any jobs created as a result of the support.  This will help us build a case for future support for the Professional Services sector in the future if we can show this has made a real difference to your business.

And that’s all.  No complicated forms to fill in, just brief details that we’ll need to store securely for audit purposes.