New figures reveal support provided by CW Growth Hub

New figures have revealed the help and support provided to businesses in Coventry and Warwickshire in 2024, by a leading business support organisation in the sub-region.

Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub had another busy 12 months referring 3,353 businesses to programmes run by a wide range of partners throughout the region, including support for hospitality, leisure and tourism businesses, scaleup SMEs, manufacturers, and net-zero and sustainability support.

Almost 1,200 individual local businesses were supported by its account management team during the calendar year.

All of this wide-ranging support is predicted to have created 2,505 jobs and safeguarded another 9,783 jobs.

The value to the local economy is expected to reach £53.9 million while the investment from the private sector totalled £13.3 million.

Craig Humphrey, CEO of Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub, said the figures underlined the need for the independent organisation in the region, after a turbulent year for businesses.

He said: “The General Election in the summer of 2024 created optimism which was dampened by the Budget in October, which had an adverse effect on business confidence.

“At the Growth Hub – and this was reflected by other business organisations – when confidence is low, there are more enquiries coming to us from companies seeking help and support.

“We have seen an increase in enquiries for our programmes available throughout Coventry and Warwickshire.

“The business landscape hasn’t really settled since Labour took power on the back of Brexit, the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the rise in energy prices, and the strain on the labour market - the cumulative impact has made it a really difficult time to do business.

“I’m hoping that even though the economy is still struggling – although the latest inflation figures were slightly better than some predicted with a surprise fall – when the Spending Review finishes in the Spring there will be more positivity, because this will be critical to the Government’s ambitions and the institutions that are here to help businesses with support.

“Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub is often cited by Government as an exemplar in the Growth Hub network and our figures emphasise the success of our account management system providing businesses with the right type of support at the right time to meet their needs.

“We’re here to help and provide advice for everyone from micro businesses to global giants and the key themes for engagement and support over the calendar year were access to finance, general advice and guidance, overcoming economic challenges, and referrals and signposting to programmes such as The Warwickshire Manufacturing Growth Programme and Made Smarter.

“2024 was our tenth anniversary year and we remain as committed as ever to providing businesses with all the support, advice and funding opportunities they require to expand, recruit extra staff, export, or learn new skills.”

Looking ahead to this year, Craig is planning to increase Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub’s lobbying with Government.

“In 2025, I would like to establish an All-Party Parliamentary Group for Growth Hubs. One has been established for the West Midlands and we need 20 MPs to support our plan, so I have had some early discussions with MPs in our area.

“It would give us an opportunity to inform Government about what’s going on in Growth Hubs around England and, since we have access to over one million businesses throughout the Growth Hub network, it is an opportunity I’m pursuing over the next few months.”