Blog with CW Growth Hub CEO Craig Humphrey: why it has been business as usual for companies accessing our services.

It has been nearly three months since Coventry and Warwickshire Growth Hub became a stand-alone organisation following the closure of CWLEP. In his latest blog, Craig Humphrey, Chief Executive Officer of CW Growth Hub, reflects on why it has been business as usual for the area’s companies accessing its services.

“It has been business as usual as far as Coventry and Warwickshire businesses are concerned even though we have been transitioning from our parent company CWLEP into a stand-alone entity.

“Coventry City Council and Warwickshire County Council have this month ratified the shareholder agreement for both local authorities to have equal shares in the new company.

“In terms of delivering our services to businesses throughout Coventry and Warwickshire, however, we are acutely aware of the need for continuity and are very mindful of the changes going on around us with the regionalisation of funding and fragmentation of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

“It is interesting that Government undertook a valuation of the effectiveness of Growth Hubs between 2015 and 2020 which was commissioned when we were in Covid but has only just been published.

“Two of the highlighted foundations on which Growth Hubs are built were stability and certainty, and that was a key finding of the report – but in the two years it has taken to publish those two things have been sadly lacking in all aspects of business life.

“But at least in a changing world we have our account managers still here delivering the Growth Hub’s services from the same building because we have retained our layered approach.

“If you imagine the range of businesses from large OEMs through to micro businesses, sole traders, pre-start-ups and early start-ups, there is a tremendous call on resources and it is key to identify where our help can bring the biggest positive impact and help those growth companies achieve their potential.

“An account managers role is to accelerate those growth plans over the short and medium term and that’s why Coventry and Warwickshire is different to other Growth Hubs.

“Here our account managers all have a rich history in industry and have a commercial background and that’s the difference between what we offer and our counterparts in other areas where they tend to be all things to all people.

“Our layered approach means we can meet the demands of micro businesses and small businesses but with an eye on developing the growth plans of companies who will make a difference to Coventry and Warwickshire’s economy.

“So, it is a strata of companies that is very much worth cultivating and one we are particularly keen on helping as the results are proportionally the greatest and we have lots of those companies here in Coventry and Warwickshire.

“It is therefore no coincidence that Coventry and Warwickshire’s LEP geography area, as an economic entity, has been among the the fastest growing in England over many years.

“One of the factors which can fuel that growth is the access to talent, and here we benefit because we have really good innovation assets which are university-driven, and we have two catapults with the MTC and WMG at the University of Warwick which are giving those companies with ambition a pipeline of talent that they can tap into.

“Even in an increasingly virtual world, location is also still key and we are almost unrivalled in our situation at the heart of the country. Geography is an important ingredient but so is the breeding of talent, R&D facilities, and knowledge-led businesses.

“We have all those in abundance and the Growth Hub can ensure that they work in unison to help us reach our economic potential.”