Business & Enterprise North East (BE-NE) was set up in 2007 to improve access to business support services for the region’s companies. Through management of a wide – and growing – portfolio of support services, BE-NE is transforming the region’s economy and delivering assistance that is making a real difference to thousands of businesses. Alastair MacColl, chief executive, explains how the organisation plans to continue streamlining its services to help put the North-East on the map as the place to do business.

BE-NE was set up with a simple vision – to provide the most tailored, targeted and effective advice and assistance possible to businesses of all sizes and from all sectors, from right across the region.

Since our inception in 2007, we have built a cohesive and comprehensive support portfolio that we believe has been, and will continue to be, a real catalyst in the development and growth of the North-East economy.

By bringing a range of services together under one roof, we have been able to simplify the process for companies seeking support, allowing them to gain a broad range of assistance through one primary access point.

And the portfolio of services BE-NE now administers is certainly broad.

With Business Link, the North East England Investment Centre (NEEIC), the North East England Service Provider Register (NEESPR), Compete North East, the Regional International Trade Office on behalf of UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) and the North East Employer Coalition (NEEC), BE-NE has managed to accrue a vast range of services that offer distinct, but complementary, support to businesses and entrepreneurs.

We are proud to have developed such a strong portfolio of services that meet the needs of the region’s businesses. In building such a cohesive network of support, we are now able to offer a truly joined-up service that seamlessly guides enterprises through a range of opportunities that will help their business to grow and succeed.

The organisation is constantly looking for ways to refresh its customer offer and deliver a better service to the thousands of businesses across the region that seek its assistance each year.

We are absolutely committed at BENE to making things better, and finding smarter, more effective ways of working that will, in turn, further improve our service offer to customers.

Through the acquisition of a number of additional support services, including UKTI and the NEEC, and the launch of a new service, Compete North East, all over the course of the last year, we feel we have already vastly improved our offer of integrated support services. We now intend to build on this, and grow a support network that places North-East England at the very top of the list for businesses looking for a place to start up or grow.

BE-NE is funded by a number of organisations including One North East and the Learning and Skills Council. Its services are supported by the European Regional Development Fund, through the Government Office for the North East.

BE-NE SERVICES
BUSINESS & Enterprise North East’s portfolio of services has grown rapidly over the past year.

The organisation now administers six support services, each delivering practical assistance to businesses and people in North-East England.

As the primary access point for business support, Business Link works with thousands of regional businesses each year. It provides practical support and guidance to both new and established businesses, giving them access to the “business brains” who will help to get their business idea off the ground, or grow their existing company.

The Business Link service is free, and provides impartial advice and support to help pre-starts and established businesses to learn new skills, improve efficiency and raise competitiveness.

Innovatively, in the North-East the support offered includes workforce development and training under the Learning and Skills Council’s Train to Gain service.

In April last year, BE-NE acquired the Regional International Trade Office, which delivers the UKTI service in the North-East. And, in December last year, BE-NE beat off competition to win the UKTI contract for 2010 to 2013.

It supports companies in the North- East that want to trade and invest overseas, helping them rise to the opportunities and challenges that globalisation offers, as well as encouraging the best overseas companies to look to the UK, and the North-East, as their global partner.

As well as acquiring existing support services, BE-NE has also launched a new service that is designed to help North-East businesses compete for a range of real business opportunities.

Compete North East, which was launched last June, provides procurement information and tendering advice, to enable companies of all sizes and sectors to compete for major contract opportunities – starting with the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. It aims to effectively package and present public procurement opportunities to regional businesses to enable them to grow and succeed by removing the barriers to successful tendering.

Another recent addition to the BE-NE portfolio was the North East Employer Coalition (NEEC), which delivers a range of support to disadvantaged groups of unemployed people and those less able to work through reasons of ill health or disability, helping them to gain access to real, long-term job opportunities in the North-East. NEEC achieves this by working with employers to identify their recruitment needs and also working with potential candidates to enhance their skills across all sectors.

As well as delivering services that can be directly reached by customers, BENE also administers further support channels that are accessed through the Business Link service.

The North East England Investment Centre (NEEIC), accessed through Business Link, works to assist new and existing businesses to develop and grow by investing public funds in companies that are entering into business development projects, using external suppliers. This can include projects from marketing and strategic planning to staff training courses and director development. All applications for financial support are assessed on the contribution they make to improving the economic prosperity of the region.

The North East England Service Provider Register (NEESPR) is also accessed via Business Link. The NEESPR is a regional register of service providers that can provide business development solutions to the North-East business community.

This is the only register being used by all Business Link advisers to impartially source provision for their clients.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE
NEW figures released have revealed the impact that Business & Enterprise North East has had on the region’s economy.

An independent evaluation showed that BE-NE support, funded by regional development agency One North East, contributed £73.2m of additional turnover and generated £31.1m of net additional Gross Value Added for North- East businesses in 2008-9. The evaluation report also highlighted BENE’s efficiency and cost savings.

Annual efficiency cost savings for the North East Business Link service post April 2007 – when BE-NE began operating – continue to be in the region of £2.3m. Back office costs have also been reduced from 25 per cent to 15 per cent as a percentage of total costs.