As well as supporting those businesses, the vast majority of which are very happy with the service they received, many of these Directors have previously started or been part of successful companies themselves.
These Directors work as a virtual but highly collaborative team across the South East of England to ensure local contact with their clients. They have a variety of different backgrounds and a wealth of professional skills and capabilities, including finance, law, operations, marketing and sales. Between them, these Directors have over 300 years of business experience.
Despite these credentials, their advice and support is free of charge.
This ‘company’ does not exist, but everything else about these facts and figures is accurate. These Directors operate as the Enterprise Hub Network.
The Enterprise Hub Network
The Enterprise Hub Network was established by the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) in 2001 to support early stage businesses with the potential to become high performers in the future.
Most individuals with good ideas need intensive, specialist help to develop their business propositions, raise capital, protect their intellectual property (IP) and access domestic and international markets.
The Network was formed following several major studies which identified the critical importance of high performing start-ups in generating economic wealth in the economy – regionally, nationally and globally.
With 3-4 per cent of start-ups accounting for 50-75 per cent of all jobs created 10 years later, SEEDA introduced the Network and the role of Hub Directors.
The Enterprise Hub Network has helped to support the creation of over 1,200 businesses and nearly 700 new jobs.
First hand experience
Not every start-up business is eligible to become a Hub company, but those who do are happy to explain how their Hub has helped make a tangible difference.
One of many examples is Darryl Watts, Managing Director of Oil Drum, a company supported by the Canterbury Enterprise Hub.
“The door opening facility that being part of the Hub Network gives us is vast,” he explains. “It’s an all round package that’s been totally invaluable. Without it we undoubtedly would not have gone as far or as fast as we have.”
Indeed, several entrepreneurs have been so impressed with the uniqueness of the Enterprise Hub Network set up that they have wanted to get re-involved and ‘put something back’ into a system that has helped them.
Take Paul Walsh, for example. Paul is now Enterprise Hub Director for Sittingbourne, but was first introduced to the Network as an entrepreneur with his company Cirrus Laboratories Ltd. “Through my own involvement as a client of the Sittingbourne Enterprise Hub I could see that lots of companies with good ideas were missing one or more pieces of the puzzle to make them commercially viable,” he explains. “After selling my business, I decided to join the Hub and with my experience help others bring their companies to market and potentially beyond through an exit. UK businesses need this type of support if they are going to succeed.”
A future of Innovation
Business innovation is an ever-changing landscape as government, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and other stakeholders aim to improve the prospects for ground-breaking UK businesses.
Through the Enterprise Hub Network, hundreds of companies have succeeded beyond their expectations. In doing so they have proceeded to expand, provide employment, and increase economic wealth for the region and the UK. Entrepreneurs and business founders have acknowledged the significant role of their Hub or the Hub Network in helping them to succeed.
“We’ve developed a major groundswell of belief in people and organisations who create valuable businesses,” says Steve Davis, Southampton Enterprise Hub Director. “Hub Directors and their teams have accumulated a huge amount of knowledge, experience, and above all trust with Hub companies.”
“Modern UK business innovation is at its highest point ever and we have the opportunity to make the South East of England one of the most advanced regions in the world, given the right level of government backing and support.”
The facts
Spanning 22 locations, the Network provides an impartial service for entrepreneurial start-up and early stage companies with pioneering ideas.
With the support of the Network, client companies have raised almost £30 million in 2007/2008 alone, beating the Network’s own investment targets by 65 per cent.
The Network currently supports over 3,000 businesses spread throughout the South East, including Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Isle of Wight, Oxfordshire, Hampshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire.
Locally, Enterprise Hubs have access to knowledge, expertise and resource through the stakeholders and partners including business, academia and local communities. Across the South East region, they also draw upon close relationships with partner organisations such as UKTI, Finance South East (including a pool of highly experienced mentors), Innovation Advisory Service and Manufacturing Advisory Service.
The advice and support offered by the Hubs is free. By helping to grow the economy of the South East, companies provide their payback in other ways.
