County Durham training company plans job creation after £30,000 investment

A North East training specialist is planning to scale up after winning a five-figure investment from the North East Small Loan Fund through regional fund management firm NEL Fund Managers.

Oracle Training Solutions, based in County Durham, plans to use the £30,000 investment to hire up to ten new staff and target untapped markets across the UK, with the hopes of doubling its turnover to around £1.5 million over the next year.

Oracle — which celebrates its tenth anniversary next year — is a training specialist that delivers a wide range of courses and qualifications for clients across the North East and North Yorkshire.

The courses cover work-based topics and skills, including teaching, management, administration, logistics and hospitality, with each course being tailored to the individual learner’s particular needs and skillset.

Oracle has ambitions to create three new roles at its Birtley headquarters and plans to create a new logistics academy in Yorkshire to build on the work it already does in the county.

The company is also planning to expand its network into new markets across the UK, and recently took on contracts in Somerset, while also looking at contract opportunities in the Midlands for the first time.

William Fitzpatrick, managing director at Oracle Training Solutions, said: “All our training is based around the strengths and needs of each individual and we aim to deliver high-quality education and training which will raise their skills and knowledge and so equip them to make the sort of progress in the workplace they’re looking for.

“We’re already very active in Yorkshire but establishing a logistics academy there will give us a physical base from which we can make further gains right across the county and further south too.

“Doubling both our workforce and our turnover in the next year is a challenging target, but we’re already on our way towards achieving both ambitions and the expansion of both the services we provide and the areas in which we provide them will help us make swift further progress.

“The accessibility of the Small Loan Fund was an important factor in choosing to go down this investment route and the face-to-face support we got from the NEL team was extremely useful as we moved through the application process.”

The North East Small Loan Fund is a £9 million scheme that is supported by the European Regional Development Fund, and typically offers loans between £10,000 and £50,000 to smaller SMEs in Tyne & Wear, Durham, and Northumberland.

It’s hoped that the scheme will lead to the creation of over 1200 new jobs in the region over the life of the fund.

Jonathan Armitage, investment executive at NEL Fund Managers, added: “Oracle has a strong track record in delivering impactful training and skills development courses and the investment we’ve made will support their growth ambitions by extending their operations into new areas.”

NEL Fund Managers is currently looking for potential investees from Tyne & Wear, Durham and Northumberland to put their investment ideas forward.