New innovation programme to boost County Durham start-ups

Business Durham has launched a new innovation programme to support start-up businesses in County Durham.

Durham Ambitious Business Start-ups (DABS) will test new approaches for encouraging and supporting business start-ups across the county.

The three-year project will provide a programme delivered by three sub-contractors – TEDCO, Candle Digital and UMi – which will each be responsible for different elements of DABS.

Business support experts TEDCO has been contracted to deliver the premium-quality pre-start and post-start programmes. Working in conjunction with Business Durham, TEDCO’s programme use a combination of peer-learning, one-to-one coaching and intensive interactive workshops.

Innovative individuals with a fledgeling business idea can take advantage of a new dynamic idea creation and formation model to identify, test and validate their business idea.

Another strand will bring together potential co-founders to create aspirational businesses. Through corporate team-building activities, this strand will connect like-minded entrepreneurs with complementary strengths, knowledge and experience.

For those with a clear business idea with growth-potential, the support will focus on developing a scale-up strategy and securing investment and funding. A tailored package of workshops will help entrepreneurs navigate the start-up process with topics such as innovation and opportunity, growth through partnerships and pricing strategies to grow and scale. Other topics will help businesses build a new resilience for post-COVID-19, like the Digitising Your Business module.

To complement the programmes, a start-up web portal has been launched today (June 1).  Developed by Candle Digital, it showcases the support that is available from various providers.  The portal makes it easy for people to access online resources wherever they are based in the county, including in rural areas.

Meanwhile, UMi has been contracted to deliver a profile-raising campaign to increase the visibility of start-up support. The campaign will include monthly meet-ups and an annual Festival of Enterprise to bring together clusters of like-minded entrepreneurial new-start business owners and would-be entrepreneurs to gather, share and grow the regional knowledge economy.

Sarah Slaven, Business Durham’s interim managing director, said: “There are lots of entrepreneurs with great business ideas, but they don’t always have the confidence to pursue them. Durham Ambitious Business Start-Ups is all about increasing ambition, raising aspirations and helping companies to reach their full potential in County Durham.

“We want to be able to help businesses that have the ambition to reach out and grow year-on-year creating a lasting legacy of great businesses that County Durham can be proud of.

“We recognise that the months ahead are going to be very challenging for the economy, and once we get through this difficult time, more than ever there will be a need for new approaches to support businesses to start-up in the county.

Cllr Carl Marshall, Durham County Council’s Cabinet member for economic regeneration, added: “We’re really pleased to support Business Durham in launching the Durham Ambitious Business Start-Ups project.

“This is an initiative which can only help attract even more businesses to County Durham, benefiting the local economy. In doing so it very much supports our vision to create 30,000 jobs over the next 15 years.”

DABS is a three-year programme for SMEs, which is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and delivered by Business Durham, the economic development arm of Durham County Council.