Available information and support
The Solent Growth Hub is an online, telephone and advisor support service designed to help business by
- providing an online resource to access local and national, public and private sector business support providers
- helping to unlock a range of grant and investment funding opportunities from £5,000 to £500,000
The Government also provides an online Business Finance and Support Finder service to help you find information on:
- Government grants
- publicly-backed finance and loans
- business support eg mentoring, consultancy
- funding for small and medium-sized businesses and start-ups
Local advice and support
- Enterprise South Offers experienced mentors who can help you with growing your business including business planning, exploring funding options and market research Gosport Borough Council helps fund Enterprise South to provide free advisor support in Gosport
- Federation of Small Business Offers advice and support to sole traders and small businesses plus events via its Wessex branch
- Hampshire Chamber of Commerce Offers networking, training, international trade services plus other support for its members
- Manufacturing Growth Programme Offers free advice and support to manufacturing SMEs in Hampshire plus grants towards the costs of implementing a growth project
- Mentor Net Offers mentoring across the south of England. After a free introductory meeting there is a subsidised fee for continuing to use the service
- University of Portsmouth Offers research and development services. training and access to funding plus its support for SMEs includes office space, networking events, seminars, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships and recruitment services
Trade internationally
- The Government provides information online on Imports and Exports including: starting to export and import; and Government help for exporters
- The Department for International Trade/UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) works with UK-based businesses to ensure their success in international markets and provides an online New to Exporting guide, plus a range of support including grants to attend overseas events and overseas market introductions
- HMRC provides a downloadable Guide to Importing and Exporting plus further online tax and duty related information on Import and Export and International Trade, International Visits and VAT and offer a range of e-learning tutorials
- The EU also have useful a one stop portal to help Doing Business in Europe, covering export and import rules, contract opportunties, to access to finance in member states
- Hampshire Chamber of Commerce provides information, advice and training on trading internationally plus an export documentation service
Secure public sector contracts
There may be opportunities for your business to provide goods or services to the public sector, either through a direct contract or by becoming a subcontractor. The Government provides an online guide to Tendering for Public Sector Contracts explaining procurement and tendering processes.
To find local, regional and national tendering opportunities see the following links:
- Contracts Finder is a free service delivered by GOV.UK for businesses, government buyers and the public. This service comes from government under its transparency commitment, and you can find live contract opportunities, closed tender documentation and contract awards and contract documents
- SE Business Portal brings together contract opportunities from 74 councils and 9 fire & rescue services in the South East region worth between £4bn and £4.5bn each year
- Gosport Borough Council
- Fareham Borough Council
- Portsmouth City Council
- Hampshire County Council which also has an online Sellers Guide to help potential suppliers understand how it does business
Business Advice for Social Enterprises and Mutuals
Social enterprises come in many shapes and sizes from large national and international businesses to small community based enterprises. See the following for information on running a social enterprise:
- Social Enterprise
- Locality
- Unltd
- School for Social Entrepreneurs
- Community Empowerment Ltd
- Big society capital
- Mutuals Information Service (Advice from the Cabinet Office)