{"id":28273,"date":"2025-04-17T19:16:15","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T19:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/28273\/"},"modified":"2025-04-17T19:16:15","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T19:16:15","slug":"small-west-midlands-firms-boosted-by-millions-as-a-result-of-pilot-programme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/28273\/","title":{"rendered":"Small West Midlands firms boosted by millions as a result of pilot programme"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The programme has helped a total of 50 small to medium sized companies increase inward investment<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0_Richard-Parker.jpg\" alt=\"West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker. PIC: WMCA\" loading=\"eager\"  \/>West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker. PIC: WMCA<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">A programme aimed at supporting small West Midlands businesses has helped dozens of firms win millions in new investment in its first year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The first year of the pilot High Growth Accelerator Programme, a partnership between economic development consultancy Gateley Global and West Midlands Combined Authority, has ended and been hailed a success.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">A cohort of 50 businesses took part in the first year and have attracted \u00a34 million in new investment with bosses saying they are on track to add a further \u00a315 million to their turnover.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">READ MORE: <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birminghammail.co.uk\/news\/midlands-news\/pioneering-birmingham-doctor-finally-hangs-31426781\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Pioneering Birmingham doctor finally hangs up his stethoscope after almost five decades in medicine<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">The programme, which is designed to support small to medium enterprises overcome barriers to achieve growth, entered its second year on April 1.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">During the first year, the 50 companies had access to services including intellectual property valuation, leadership development, digital marketing and public procurement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Rebecca Bekkenutte, managing director of Gateley Global, said: &#8220;The programme has been a vital resource for participating businesses, providing the tools and support needed to help them grow and succeed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;Its alignment with the region&#8217;s focus on SME development has been a key factor in its success.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;We\u2019ve seen results for all businesses around productivity, job creation, revenue growth and expansion through investment and trade, and we\u2019re thrilled to begin the second year of the programme.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\"><a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/xd.wayin.com\/display\/container\/dc\/e59f02b1-9931-4893-a7ab-d6e95ebff3c9\" target=\"_self\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Are you proud to live in Birmingham?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands, said: &#8220;When businesses succeed, we bring in opportunities that mean everyone can succeed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;And that\u2019s why I pledged to break the cycle of sluggish growth and back them all the way to lead our great region into a new era of prosperity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;We\u2019re already getting results. The High Growth Programme has turbocharged 50 ambitious local businesses, helping them to overcome barriers and seize new opportunities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;They\u2019ve already won \u00a34 million in new investment and together, they\u2019re on track to add another \u00a315 million to their turnover.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \">&#8220;That\u2019s good for business and transformative for local people. We\u2019re creating career opportunities and giving them the skills they need to grab them. That\u2019s how we\u2019re going to deliver real change and better futures for everyone.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The programme has helped a total of 50 small to medium sized companies increase inward investmentWest Midlands Mayor&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,748,393,4884,16,15,17008],"class_list":{"0":"post-28273","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-west-midlands-combined-authority"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}