“ We are quiet but confident as an area
and are punching above our weight with fantastic technologies and life sciences at a world-leading level
Note from the CEO
2020-2021 was a year in which there was pace , change , respond and keep moving in massive change in our country due to these conditions whilst delivering on our the pandemic and this was reflected in original objectives but we have worked hard our business . Due to the crisis we had to to achieve our goals . change our way of operating dramatically Our Swindon and Wiltshire Growth and very quickly . We had to move from a Hub has grown and delivered strongly , team of eleven to 24 direct or contracted beating performance targets and receiving staff within weeks to implement very good feedback from businesses . The
Government programmes . programmes we have created in response It has been an interesting experience to the pandemic have been well received doing everything online , from recruiting and exceeded our objectives . Our ‘ This Way people , to inducting them , and holding Up ’ webinar series reached thousands of performance reviews virtually . Most of the businesses both live and on-demand . The people working within the SWLEP now I ’ ve sessions covered a broad range of subjects not met in person which is an unusual and received great reviews . I believe we are experience . Although we ’ ve been physically in touch with the moment and that ’ s what apart , we ’ ve used technology to our pleases me most about this last year . We ’ ve advantage and met twice weekly via Teams . not been behind the curve , and the types It ’ s been a real challenge having to pick up of activity we ’ ve carried out have been both perceived to be necessary and received as necessary .
We ’ ve constantly reached out to more businesses , so they know we are here to offer support , advice , and guidance . We are Government funded , so everything we do is free and impartial , and we want to ensure more businesses are aware of this . We have seen a large uptake in the numbers of people visiting our website searching for Growth Hub support and across the whole breadth and range of business in Swindon and Wiltshire .
A core focus has been supporting SMEs who needed a small grant to keep them going through the pandemic ’ s lockdowns . It ’ s never an easy task giving out public money as there are so many checks and balances to go through , but we worked hard with our partners to get the funding out as quickly as possible . There was a particular fund to support hospitality and tourism businesses , and this helped keep the momentum going for those badly affected by COVID-19 . Right from the beginning of the pandemic , we worked with the UK Hospitality Trade Association , British Beer and Pub Association and Wadsworth Brewery , writing to our MPs asking for support . We ’ ve had businesses in this industry who ’ ve not been able to keep going and it ’ s been particularly tough on the young who rely on it for jobs . It is important that we support these businesses as they start trading again , securing them for the future .
In addition to providing our government funded business support programmes ,