Business Support
Useful Contacts for Business Support
Click on the organisation title to be taken through to their website.
Marches Growth Hub
Your gateway to business support
Location and parking for Marches Growth Hub Herefordshire: MAP
Fastershire – Countywide Faster Broadband
Faster broadband is being rolled out across Herefordshire and Gloucestershire by the Fastershire broadband project.
Fastershire is a partnership between Herefordshire Council and Gloucestershire County Council and aims to provide access to faster broadband to all who need it by the end of 2019/20. This is part of the council’s commitment to the digital transformation of Herefordshire, which is vital for the future of our local economy and those who live and work in our communities.
Fastershire is not just about technology. The project also includes social and digital inclusion activities, and an extensive business support programme, designed to help small and medium size businesses get the most from fibre broadband and be more competitive. In fact, it is expected that Fastershire will help to boost the local economy by £420 million over the next ten years.
Fastershire will revolutionise the way that people of all ages across Herefordshire and Gloucestershire work, learn and play, and will benefit generations to come.
The Federation of Small Businesses is the UK’s leading business organisation that has been supporting small businesses for more than 40 years.
It is a membership-based organisation and currently has around 200,000 members across 33 regions and 188 branches.
Its aim is to promote and protect the interests of people who are self employed and small business owners within the UK.
Members enjoy a range of benefits from employment, healthcare, and health and safety advice. The FSB also offers financial health checks, a legal protection scheme and other services.
Its website contains a wealth of information on business growth and savings, all designed to help small businesses prosper.
The FSB is non-profit making and non-party political and is also the UK’s largest campaigning pressure group.
Its lobbying arm represents the views of its members at Whitehall and at EU institutions in Brussels. It also works to put issues affecting FSB on the media agenda.
Press and Parliamentary officers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland lobby the devolved assemblies and Development Managers work alongside members in the regions to further FSB influence at a regional level.
The Federation of Small Businesses has a sliding scale of membership fees, which is dependent on how any employees there are in your business. Fees start from just £172.50 for the first year.
Herefordshire Brand
This is a joint venture between Visit Herefordshire, the Herefordshire Business Board and the local authority. These organisations and key stakeholders work together to manage the brand and its representation. Ultimately the brand belongs to the County of Herefordshire, it belongs to you; the people who live and work in Herefordshire.
Anyone wishing to raise awareness and clarity of Herefordshire’s position and their business within Herefordshire should use this toolkit and become a partner in order to adopt and use the brand.
Business, Community, Tourism, Producers, Makers and Creaters are more are all very important to Herefordshire and different partnerships are available depending upon how much you want to be involved with the brand.
Hereford College of Art Short Courses for Business
HCA Business is the Business Services section of the College and exists to meet the training needs of local businesses within Herefordshire and its surrounding borders. Many use the Short Course programme as part of their continued professional development accessing Short Courses such as Digital Photography, Photoshop, InDesign and Web Design to enhance existing skills and to enable their own business growth and development.
Details online here: http://www.hca.ac.uk/Courses/Short-Courses
Herefordshire Rural Hub
Herefordshire Rural Hub is a business support organisation which is led by farm and rural businesses across Herefordshire. Established in September 2004 the Hub has grown from strength to strength and now has a membership of over 1,000 rural businesses. Membership is free.
The Herefordshire Rural Hub is part of a group of Rural Hubs covering the West Midlands area and as such has representation with all the main agencies and funding bodies. Through the Hub you can communicate your views ‘from the wellie boot to the suit’.
Herefordshire & Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce
Herefordshire & Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce is a member-led, not for profit organisation, working to support the local business community and specifically their 1300-strong network of member businesses. Whilst the nature and scale of what we do has changed over time, today theystill work to strengthen the position of their members and ensure that the interests of local businesses are heard.
Truffle Herefordshire
The Truffle Card is designed to offer customers exclusive treats and offers across a wide and varied range of independent Herefordshire businesses. Truffle knows that customers can shop anywhere, but what they strive for is that people do business with local independents so Truffle promotes Herefordshire independent businesses and helps them to flourish.
