This is a chance to learn from your peers in business – facilitated locally by Trevor Vanstone, of Perspective HR – and there is no cost to you as a business as this is fully funded by the Government and the Local Enterprise Partnership.

There are two opportunities – one for Food and Drink companies and one for any business meeting the criteria (see below) from any sector.

The Peer Networks are a national scheme and are delivered in our area by Business Information Point on behalf of the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership. The investment is your time and ideas.

Trevor’s job is to facilitate the sessions and based on the two we have already run this year, they will provide insights that only other business people can provide.

This is a structured course over 6 sessions for businesses in the Growth Hub area (Devon, Somerset, Plymouth and Torbay). The criteria for each business are to have an annual turnover of over £100K, employ a minimum of 5 Full Time Equivalent employees and planning to grow their business.

Each session is 3 hours using Microsoft Teams and will run on the mornings of:

Food & Drink Cohort: 13 & 20 July; 10, 17, 24 & 31 August

Mixed Cohort: 15 & 22 July; 12, 19, 26 August; 2 September

There are an additional 3.5 hrs in total of 1:1 with an advisor from Business Information Point. Businesses must agree to commit to this support to be eligible. If this is something you would like to participate in then do email me and let me know. More details here: https://businessinfopoint.co.uk/peer-networks/. Since running these groups the first time, we received some excellent feedback from participants who attended and found the sessions to be very valuable:

“As a business owner, I get plenty of advice but what’s great about the Peer Network is that the participants are in a similar position to you, have no axe to grind or no vested interest, and are keen to share their thoughts just for the reciprocal benefit of hearing your thoughts about their business. And the Action Learning ethos means that you follow up with real actions. Highly recommended.” Brian, MM Ltd

‘At first I thought, “Three hours a week? – I just don’t have that much time!”. Half-way through I found myself actually looking forward to the meetings and excited about the new tools I might come away with. By the end of the programme, we were all so pleased with the effectiveness that the group has developed its own ongoing programme so as to continue the invaluable learning environment. As an aside, I also experience increased confidence in communicating with peers who I now appreciate share lots of the problems I thought were unique to our business.’ General Manager, Tony Benger Landscaping Ltd

To take part – contact Business Information Point on 0800 592 872 and/or give Trevor a ring at any point to learn more on 01392 247436.