Ensuring businesses employ staff with the right skills to help them grow and thrive.
Skills development is central to creating the conditions for sustained innovation, excellence and growth. From fresh new entrants and apprentices to experienced members of the board, we all need to keep up-to-date to capitalise on new opportunities as they arrive. But because each local economy is different, training priorities vary from place to place. An essential component of Ngage’s work in this area is partnering closely with Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) to ensure Skills programmes line up with the Local Industrial Strategy.
In one area of the country, such as Buckinghamshire that might mean developing programmes that support the space industry, advanced engineering, digital health and creative sectors. In another area, it might mean more of a focus on retail or tourism. The key is to identify and build on from existing strengths, while also supporting the many other sectors that make up our complex business eco-system.
General business skills training is equally important to maintaining a highly skilled workforce. Ngage works closely with education providers, charities, universities and businesses to facilitate programmes that can open the doors to opportunity. Train To Gain Leadership And Management helped SME businesses access affordable training and mentoring for their senior managers. Business Leaders provided grants to fund management development for Managing Directors and senior executives; the South East Women’s Mentoring Network identified high potential women and provided the career guidance and support they needed to progress into senior management and leadership roles; The Pulse targeted 100 promising entrepreneurs, teachers and youth workers to create a learning programme around citizenship and enterprise for young people. Grow worked with unemployed adults facing social exclusion through mental health problems to assess their needs and develop packages of training support. We have also supported an Enterprise Advisor Network, Online Careers Hubs and the annual Buckinghamshire Skills Shows.
HISS aimed to encourage local businesses, schools, colleges and recruitment organisations to apply a toolbox of soft skills and methodologies into their professional development programmes
Secured programme finance for a Senior Management development programme targeting small and medium-sized businesses. Personnel development grants of £1,000 were available for online training, workshops and mentoring.
While the 2012 London Olympics was good news for British sport, for the UK construction industry there was a problem – a shortage of SME businesses with the skills to bid for larger building contracts. This project opened the doors of opportunity to firms in the South East.
Business Leaders sought to raise the aspirations and standards of board-level directors in South East SMEs by supporting their learning and development in leadership and management skills.
Aiming to improve financial management and minimise business failures, the project identified, brokered and incentivised financial training solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Milton Keynes, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.
A trailblazing educational project for young people focused on Citizenship and Entrepreneurship which encouraged participants to fully engage with their local community and realise their economic potential through innovation and business skills.
Designed to support the opening of the new Eden Shopping Centre in High Wycombe, REX aimed to raise retail customer service standards amongst vendors as part of a drive to build a national reputation for excellence.
Recognising the impact that out-of-town shopping centres were having on small town independent retailers, RON conducted a study of 10 towns in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes and launched a suite of support and training to help them fight back.
An exciting enterprise project which encouraged young entrepreneurs to develop new business concepts and pitch them to a panel of investors.
On behalf of the Learning & Skills Council, Ngage delivered training and business support services to improve the competitiveness and longer-term growth of tourism and hospitality businesses in Milton Keynes, Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire.
Reflecting the importance of training for SMEs to help them survive and thrive, the project aimed to increase their competitiveness through the development and provision of a range of learning and personal support.