A Yorkshire Wide Support Service

As the new government contemplates how business support should be organised we all need to lobby the government. Having announced the abolition of Business Link and Yorkshire Forward and their apparent enthusiasm for Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP) comprising of local authorities and business we need to decide what would serve business best a sub- regional service run by LEPs or a Yorkshire wide service run for the whole of Yorkshire.

I can't help thinking that having say 4 LEPs (e.g. Leeds, Sheffield, Hull and the Humber and North Yorkshire), would lead to more bureaucracy and probably lower quality help. Connect Yorkshire draws help from successful entrepreneurs throughout Yorkshire and the Humber. By "successful" I mean that they have built substantial businesses employing over 50/100, or run such businesses and have a lot to teach up and coming entrepreneurs. But there aren't that many in Yorkshire and the Humber and their help needs to be focused.

We must concentrate on the best up and coming companies; those that are going to make a major contribution to our economy. They need help from those with a proven track record.

So a Yorkshire wide organisation providing business support is needed. The Yorkshire Post and others have been calling for this and we at Connect Yorkshire support their efforts.

Have your say by posting your comments; I would be very interested to hear your views.

Raising Funding

The new government have made it clear that they want business to play a big part in business support in the future.

Connect Yorkshire is just such a project. It started in the private sector. We are sponsored by 44 leading business people and professionals in Yorkshire who provide over £60k of cash and £250k of time to help businesses get ready for investment. A similar amount of cash has been provided by Yorkshire Forward for the last few years.

Companies we have helped have raised over £34m in equity. We are a not for profit company limited by guarantee with a Board of Directors drawn from leading business people and professionals who provide their time free.

Our private/public model is unique and is one we believe the Government should support and replicate throughout the country. I cannot overstate the quality and quantity of free help we get from the business community for the companies we help; from business people and professionals who have succeeded/are succeeding.

It is based on Connect in San Diego who use successful entrepreneurs, called Entrepreneurs in Residence, who give 6-8 weeks of time to get projects from the 50 Research Institutes in San Diego ready for investment.

Support and Survive

Investment readiness is a key plank of any business support and we’re confident that the Connect model will survive and play a part in whatever support for business the new government decides on.

Our team morale is still high and we are working hard to deliver projects and operate as normal. Our investment Forum is on the 7th July, where nine companies and four University projects will pitch their propositions to investors from around the U.K.

After that we have our very first Investment Readiness Bootcamp on the 12th and 13th of July, the aim is that the business proposition will have been substantially improved as a result of attending and will help prepare individuals in the process of seeking funding.

In March, as part of the Solutions for Business initiative we launched our new Understanding Finance for Business programme; we have had to put a key part of the project on hold (the funded coaching) until we have confirmed decisions about our budget.


Over seven years Connect has enabled more than 243 companies to raise over £34m in equity investment.

For further information about Connect and its services, visit www.connectyorkshire.org