Hammerson and Leeds City Council launch Digital High Street Skills programme

Hammerson, the developer behind the Victoria Gate scheme, is partnering with Leeds City Council to sponsor a Digital High Street Skills programme in Leeds, designed to help small businesses develop their Internet knowledge and launch their businesses online.

The Digital High Street Skills Programme has been developed by People 1st Training, in partnership with the National Skills Academy for Retail and the Association of Town and City Management (ATCM).

The programme features three modules: Understand your Customer and Digital Marketing, Develop your Business Online and Grow your business through Social Media. The tailor-made programmes help small businesses with a broad range of digital skills, from developing a website to using email marketing and social media.

The course is designed to inform businesses about the benefits from the rapid growth of e-tailing and ultimately increase their bottom line.

Fully funded by Hammerson, each of the three modules will be four hours in duration, running from 8am-12pm with Module 1 on 1 July 2015, Module 2 on 15 July 2015 and Module 5 on the 22 July 2015.

They will all take place at ‘The Leeds Garage’, a pop-up space in Leeds Dock, which is a part of ‘The Digital Garage’ Google initiative. The multi-million pound scheme is designed to help 200,000 British businesses learn crucial skills for the digital age.

Jon Brookes, community manager at Hammerson, said: “We are excited to support small businesses with making the most out of the Internet. Connectivity has provided a wealth of opportunity for businesses to grow, communicate with their customers and increase their bottom line and it’s important to us that small businesses are able to take advantage of this. The Digital High Street Skills Programme is a perfect way of delivering these skills and we are delighted to be sponsoring 12 places and making this knowledge accessible for everyone.”

Councilor James Lewis, Leeds City Council’s deputy leader and executive member for resources and strategy, added: “Leeds is a city proud of its local independent businesses and the Digital High Street Skills programme offers training that could benefit each and every one of them.Now more than ever it’s important for businesses to be online. Even something as simple as a page on social media can raise awareness and bring in customers, local or otherwise. Thanks to this innovation local businesses can open themselves up to millions of potential customers.”