North East businesses and organisations come together at Rural Business Showcase 2023

Over 80 rural Northumberland and North of Tyne based businesses and organisations came together to take part in a special event at Linden Hall showcasing the Rural Business Growth Project (RBGS) and the strength of the rural sector.

With inspirational guest speakers, experts on hand and a range of Rural businesses supported by the RBGS service, the aim was to bring businesses together to put Rural businesses at the forefront, highlight successes and discuss the challenges and of sharing ideas and solutions.

RBGS beneficiaries had the opportunity to exhibit and showcase their growth and development during the past three years and to discuss challenges and opportunities faced by rural based businesses. Additionally, the conference held two workshops focusing on business resilience, rural challenges, and success factors.

The Rural Business Growth Service has registered over 500 local businesses to their programme, which has provided individual tailored support developed and managed by a team of Rural Enterprise Specialists. The Rural Business Growth Fund has also approved over 25 business grants to date.

The project has successfully:

• Engaged with almost 600 rural businesses
• Given 1-2-1 support to well over 300 businesses
• Given grant commitment to support capital investment to the tune of £2m
• Leveraging a private investment match in excess of £3.6m
• Created 190 new additional jobs to the region.

Northumberland County Council Leader Glen Sanderson said: “I was delighted to open this event which showcased some of the very best of our rural businesses. The Rural Business Growth Service has been instrumental in supporting and growing businesses in our county and creating hundreds of new jobs and it is good to see how strong the rural business sector is in Northumberland.”

Jonpaul Heron MBA, programme manager for the North of Tyne Rural Business Growth Service said: “It was fantastic to see so many rural businesses that have accessed the Rural Business Growth Service come together and support each other to achieve a common aspiration to grow and develop our region”.

The North of Tyne Rural Business Growth Service 2020 – 2023 is a £7.9m programme of investment part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020, and the North of Tyne Combined Authority.

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily

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