Hi, my name's David Ritchie.
I'm Programme Lead for Help to Grow, and I'm a teaching fellow at Lancaster University, Department of PEML.
So, Help to Grow is a government initiative started by Rishi Sunak to help post-COVID recovery for our brilliant SME community.
Now, I know that a number of them have struggled in terms of initiating growth. So this programme is specifically designed for their challenges.
There are 12 modules that take them through a structured approach in terms of understanding where their value lies, and how to extract the most amount of value and growth for their business.
It's a combination of in-person and online modules to help. We create some peer support groups where they can talk to each other because often the answer to their challenges is within their peer community; and they get 12 hours of externally guided mentor support to help with those critical conversations, those challenges and they end up with a growth plan as to what actions they're going to take to help them become stronger and more productive for the UK economy.