BUSINESS NEWS
BUILDING BRIDGES INVESTS £ 3.9M INTO SUPPORTING LOCAL UNEMPLOYED
The Building Bridges partnership is jointly funded by the Big Lottery Fund and European Social Fund and aims to help people facing‘ challenges and barriers’ to move into work by injecting £ 3.9m into supporting individuals in Swindon and Wiltshire.
As part of this, it is seeking to support employers in Swindon and Wiltshire by matching them with individuals who can add value to their workforce and provide support to both employer and employee.
According to the 2015 UKCES Employer Skills Survey: 1,651 establishments in Wiltshire and Swindon reported having at least one hard to fill vacancy( 8 % of establishments). Yet the area has an estimated 14,200 unemployed individuals.
Dave Potts Building Bridges Programme Manager said:” Swindon and Wiltshire has a wealth of people with valuable skills, abilities and potential who are being overlooked because employers are focusing on the barriers
Launched in 2015, the network offers a unique opportunity to support employers to engage with schools, colleges and young people through a National programme and claims to build‘ powerful, lasting connections’ between local businesses, schools and colleges.
The Volunteer Enterprise Advisers are sourced from local businesses to work directly with the leadership of individual schools and colleges and have been sourced from employers including Nationwide, Atkins Global, Capita, Siemens Rail, and Marriott Hotels.
The Swindon and Wiltshire Enterprise Adviser Network is delivered by Wiltshire Council and Swindon Borough Council working in partnership with the Swindon & Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership( SWLEP) and feeds into the nationwide they face rather than the skills and attributes they could bring to the workplace.”
He added:“ We can help people get started by offering work experience for as little as one hour per week, with the potential to offer further progression opportunities through employment or voluntary work. With free support we can help to source an appropriate candidate for your workplace, potentially adding value to your organisation and opening a whole new world of opportunity for the participant.”
For more information on the project, contact Claire Pearce, claire. pearce @ wiltshire. gov. uk Tel: 01225 718425 / 01225 716890 www. buildingbridgessw. org. uk / employers
Volunteer Adviser network boosts youth engagement with local business
The Swindon & Wiltshire Enterprise Adviser Network, a growing network of volunteers from local businesses, is working with schools and colleges across the area to‘ improve the effectiveness’ of business and education engagement and to further develop careers and enterprise activities.
Careers & Enterprise Company Enterprise Adviser Network. Phil Townsend, R & D engineer and company secretary for IXYS UK Westcode Ltd, said:“ It is essential that young people get the careers information, advice and guidance that they need to make informed choices and to reach their full potential. I am delighted to be partnering with Hardenhuish School in Chippenham as their Enterprise Adviser so that local employers can help them give this to their students.”
He added,“ I have found the support from the Enterprise Adviser Network invaluable and being an Enterprise Adviser a thoroughly worthwhile experience that I would highly recommend.”
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer Enterprise Adviser contact: workwiltshire @ wiltshire. gov. uk
With a New Year, now is a great time to get out there and make the most of the services available in Wiltshire to help grow your business. Inspire have a perfect package to enable you to do just that, which we have re-vamped for 2017.
This year we’ re excited to launch our Inspire Business Clinics. Following a couple of very successful trials, these are part of our new look popular drop-in series, taking place at venues across the County( see page 24 for a list of our events). The concept is simple, bring a business problem, challenge or opportunity that you’ re prepared to share with others and we will help you solve the issue. Inspire’ s CEO, Rob Perks will chair the round table session and other business owners will help you with their experiences on how to tackle the challenge you face. We will also invite our partner experts to give their professional advice.
We have a full schedule of networking opportunities including business breakfasts with high profile guest speakers, business lunches and seminars planned for 2017. To see a full list visit: www. inspirebiz. co. uk / events
Those wanting to attend our events have the flexibility of being able to sign up to the events as they go, or sign up to our membership programme and receive a whole host of benefits. Please get in touch to find out more.
If you follow Inspire on any of our social media platforms, you will know that we proudly share the news of our clients and love to celebrate success. As a member of the Inspire network you can really make the most of this platform by sharing your good news stories with us.
There are many marketing benefits of being an Inspire member, including the promotion of our exclusive‘ Member to Member Offers’. We promote these via our e-newsletters and online helping you to grow your business and build great relationships with our network.
To find out more about growing your business with
Inspire please give me a call or drop me a line. 01225 355553 | 07730 870195 | jess @ inspirebiz. co. uk
Jess Pitman, Marketing Manager
Written by Jess Pitman
4 THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2017