The Tees Valley is in a transitional period as far as small business services in the area are concerned.

Next week, Tees Valley Business Link will take over the role from its predecessor, which was also known as Business Link.

Qualified accountant Malcolm Taylor, 53, is the man charged with making the new service a success.

He said: "One of the main aims of the new service is to maintain a seamless transition. Consistency is important for our customers because we don't want our existing relationship with them confused in any way.

"It is important to maintain consistency for our customers because we don't want our existing relationship with them to be confused in any way.

"However, it's not seamless as far as the step change in the service and what we are about. The Small Business Service (SBS) is here to make sure that customers realise the big change that is taking place in a number of areas.

"The most striking difference is that Business Link is now charged with the provision of start-up assistance to business people. The Start Right in Business programme is now under our umbrella. It was formally run by Tees Valley TEC.

"There is now a clear separation between training services and enterprise development. The Learning Skills Councils (LSC) focus on training, particularly the youth side, with the adult side left to the Employment Service. We are geared towards developing small business and workforce development, such as Investors In People accreditation (IIP).

"Business Link is charged with providing services in areas where we haven't been particularly strong before, such as socially-deprived areas. We want to help areas like Darlington, Middlesbrough, Hartlepool and Stockton.

"We, and the other 44 Business Links across the UK, will be working closely with the LSCs, forging closer links to make business a success wherever it starts."

At the moment, Mr Taylor looks no further ahead than three years, but he has plans for the things he wants to achieve in that time.

He said: "We have clear objectives for our first three years in operation. We need to widen our market share in the Tees Valley by moving into areas where we haven't been particularly strong before.

"We estimate that there are 20,000 small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Tees Valley. We currently have a database of about 15,000 of them. But we have only dealt with about 20 per cent of those businesses on a regular basis. There is another 80 per cent that we must increase our ability to target.

"It involves a big marketing exercise, and we will have to work hard to get the message across. But we have a team of advisors who will be out in the field meeting our customers on a face-to-face basis, finding out what they want and need."

Part of the battle for the new Business Link will be making a cultural change in business support. Rather than waiting for the individual companies to come to them, it will be going out to the businesses and making contact with them.

Business Link will also be a national brand. The expertise available in the Tees Valley will be available everywhere else across the country. For that reason, the new logo does not carry the Tees Valley or any other location.

Mr Taylor continued: "We have always been particularly proactive in the North-East, but that hasn't always been the case with Business Link in other parts of the country.

"The Government wants to breathe new lease of life into the franchise, and at the same time make the UK the best place in the world to start a new business.

"They want us to widen the scope of the operation. We have to work together, something we know a lot about in the North-East. There cannot be a fractured approach."

In return, Business Link will have a core budget, although Mr Taylor wouldn't be drawn on how much that would be in the Tees Valley. European funding will also be available to all the Business Links in the North-East

Mr Taylor said: "We will be working with the other Business Links in the area to maximise our offering.

"One of the main changes in the services is the coordinated approach.

"As far as contact with Business Link in the Tees Valley goes, business will have three points of contact in Darlington.

"The Town Hall is one, the premises of Darlington Business Venture at the Imperial Centre is another, and we are currently negotiating a third.

"Basically, in future our people will be out and about. We will be able to keep in contact with them through technology."

In Darlington, businesses who need to contact Business Link will contact a national number, with the calls being forwarded to the Darlington operation.

Mr Taylor said: "The Tees Valley has different needs and problems from other regions.

"We are charged with looking at our particular problems, rather than trying to solve the nation's ills.

"We will look at the specific issues affecting this area. That will even involve looking at specific issues in towns across the Tees Valley.

"We have a good quality team who recognise the issues affecting business and can move quickly to help small businesses. We have to generate an enterprise culture in the North-East. We have a far lower rate of business start-up in this region that elsewhere in the country.

"We've got to realise that there is another opportunity, rather than working for a big firm. It won't be an easy job for people to start their own businesses, but we have the expertise available to help them."

Looking ahead to Monday, Mr Taylor said: "We have a great opportunity.

"Historically I have always tried to make a difference for a small number of people, usually the shareholders of the companies I worked for in the private sector. Now I have the chance to make a difference on a regional level."