European Social Fund in England

Creative Launchpad project

Funded By: Learning Skills Council, Policy Field 4.3, Target group: SME's

Region: Government Office West Midlands

Project Start Date: 01/10/2005

Project Finish Date: 01/10/2007

Details of the Project

An innovative business support project is providing a spark of success for up-and-coming creative businesses in the West Midlands thanks to almost £120,000 from the European Social Fund (ESF).

David Roberts is the driving force behind Tribal Dundas's Creative Launchpad project, a scheme aimed at helping businesses and individuals to fulfil their potential in the creative industries, funded as part of the Learning and Skills Council's ESF regional Co-Financing plan.

The project was set up in 2003 and since then has provided advice and guidance to 900 people, helped a further 100 entrepreneurs to start up their own businesses, and assisted another 300 established enterprises gain funding for business development.

It has recently been awarded the Matrix quality standard for information and guidance services.

Thanks to its success, the project has been granted a further £120,000 of funding to help another 400 entrepreneurs and businesses over the next two years. Based at Birmingham's Custard Factory, the project has drop-in centres around the region, at Coventry, Wolverhampton, Smethwick and Dudley and is now looking to open centres in other parts of the West Midlands.

David Roberts hopes to double the number of advisers on the Creative Launchpad team from four to eight to meet the growing demand for this specialist business support.

He said: "Ten years ago there was a huge gap in terms of the provision of training and advice for creative industries. However, with the decline of industries such as traditional manufacturing, on which the West Midlands economy has relied for so long, it is crucial that other industries step forward to fill the void, creating job opportunities and wealth for the region.

"Now, thanks to the LSC's belief in the scheme and the huge creative potential in the West Midlands, we have been able to help develop and launch new creative enterprises in the region.

"In particular we want to help creative people to improve their business acumen and entrepreneurial skills and to raise awareness of the needs of creative industries and the important role they will play in future economic prosperity."

Patrick Cross, project manager from the Birmingham and Solihull LSC said: "The Creative Launchpad scheme provides an invaluable service to small businesses that traditionally may not have known where to turn for help with their development. It has seen some fantastic results over the last two years and is really going from strength to strength.

"This new round of ESF funding will enable the scheme to extend its offering by opening new drop-in centres across the region."

Key Achievements

The LSC regional ESF Co-financing programme

The six Learning and Skills Councils (LSCs) in the West Midlands have joined together for the first time to manage the UK's first regional Co-financing scheme to deliver the European Social Fund (ESF).

The programme has £157 million of ESF funding to spend in the West Midlands by 2008 under the Objective 3 ESF Programme. Co-financing means that the LSC provides both the ESF money as well as the 55% match funding required.

The West Midlands is pioneering best practice in European funding for the rest of the UK and Europe. The regional co-financing initiative replaces six individual plans, giving a more efficient system which cuts down on bureaucracy and administration costs. The bidding process is therefore simpler than before, making the funding more accessible.

The regional co-financing programme is directly targeting the real areas of need in the West Midlands - addressing both regional and local skills issues. It is a key plank in delivering the regional economic strategy in partnership with Advantage West Midlands and is helping to deliver the aims of the Regional Skills Partnership

For more information about local, community-led projects that have received funding from LSC West Midlands under the ESF programme to provide support or improved access to learning or employment for young people

Contact

Steve Maybury, Lauren Harrison or Louise Holt at Citigate

Tel: 0121 456 3199

Email: steve.maybury@citigatesmarts.co.uk.