Skills for scale: A free programme for engineering SMEs
Many of the UK’s most promising engineering and tech businesses are struggling to meet their turnover potential – and the Royal Academy of Engineering has designed a programme to address this.
Ensuring promising engineering and tech businesses not only survive, but thrive, is a challenge that the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Enterprise Hub’s programme, SME Leaders, is designed to help overcome. It offers four strands of activity over six months designed to support leaders of the most promising engineering firms and give them the skills to lead their businesses through expansion.
We are looking for applications from across the engineering sector, from scaling young start-ups through to well-established SMEs with fresh ambitions.
Successful applicants receive a flexible grant of up to £15,000 towards training and executive education – whether this be bespoke on-site workshops for a senior management team, or a business school course for the CTO.
Participants will also have access to the Academy’s unique resource: its Fellowship. Through a series of ‘masterclasses’ and workshops on topics ranging from financing growth to retaining staff, SME leaders can learn from those who have been there before. Mentors from the fellowship will be matched with participants to act as guide; sharing experiences of managing difficult business situations when those they mentor are faced with their own tough decisions. Access to the fellowship can also offer expanded networks and new contacts, which could lead to investment or new clients.
Finally, successful applicants are offered membership of the Enterprise Hub itself; giving an opportunity to utilise the hub’s media and events programme to strengthen their profile, and also free access to working and meeting rooms at the Taylor Centre – perfect for businesses from all around the UK to host meetings or use as a base when visiting London.
To apply for the SME Leaders programme, click the link below to register and complete the form. Applications close on 4 July, with the successful cohort to be announced in September 2017.
