Support for Northumberland SMEs gets green light

A business support service has been given the go-ahead to continue to provide support to Northumberland’s SMEs for the next three years.

Thanks to continued match-funding from England European Regional Development Fund and Advance Northumberland, the Business Northumberland initiative will deliver fully funded support to SMEs in the region until 2022.

As well as continuing for a further three years, the initiative is updating its programme to focus on key areas including digital marketing strategy, social media, websites and search engines, e-commerce and Microsoft office software.

Delivered by Advance Northumberland, the scheme has been running for three years already and has created over 100 new jobs since its inception, working with over 400 SMEs throughout the region.

Martyn Healy of local hypnotherapy practice Sleep Stories praised the initiative’s workshops for their “outstanding training and guidance for the digital world”.

Speaking about his experience, Martyn said: “I’ve attended several sessions in Hexham and grown my skills exponentially.”