Warwick Business School's new initiative to support SMEs

The Enterprise Hub at Warwick Business School (WBS) has launched a new management and leadership programme to support Small & Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) owners and managers. This new initiative will fill a gap left by the current funding uncertainties facing Advantage West Midlands and Business Link.

Professor Roger Mumby-Croft, Director of the Enterprise Hub at WBS said:
"If SMEs are to fulfil the role of being the engine house of the economic recovery then supporting their ability to build on their existing management and leadership skills is an essential element in achieving this. This programme works with SME managers to ensure that they receive the individual support they need to grow their business."

The Warwick Business School SME programme has been specifically designed around learning from real life situations and is based on proven practice, underpinned by research from one of Europe's leading business schools. It is designed for owner managers and managers who have recognised that their own development has a direct link to their company's growth and competitiveness.

Uniquely, managers can build their own programme of one day courses according to their own management development needs, or take a stand-alone course. The courses are to be held at Warwick Business School and cover a broad range of areas such as - How to develop a strategy for growth, innovation and creativity, leadership and decision making, planning, finance, operations and manufacture, sales, marketing, people and technology.

Amrik Bhabra, Managing Director of ADECS Ltd, Vice President and Chair of the Coventry Branch of the Chamber of Commerce, has already attended a Business Development and Growth Programme at Warwick University. He said: "This programme will provide managers from SMEs across the region with the leadership and management skills that are key to responding to the challenges of growth in these difficult times."

As an added benefit, any manager completing a programme of ten one-day courses will be able to apply for a University of Warwick accreditation (Open Studies Certificate in Entrepreneurial Studies).