COVID-19

On Tuesday 30 March, 50 local business leaders took part in an online event to build resilience hosted by NWedR, NWBL and WINN. 

Read more on the event, Resilience makes Sense! 

Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership and Worcestershire County Council have announced that the popular apprenticeship celebration event, the Worcestershire Apprenticeships Awards are returning in 2021

Read here about the entries opening for Worcestershire Apprenticeships Awards 2021

As part of the Government support for businesses affected by Covid-19, Local Authority Grants can be accessed for Bromsgrove & Redditch and Wyre Forest

Read more on the Local Authority Grants here

Have a chance to star in the Celebrating North Worcestershire calendar 2022

North Worcestershire based companies are invited to enter a competition to win a fantastic package of free PR support that lasts a year thanks to NWedR and North Worcestershire Business Leaders (NWBL). Read the full story here.

Wyre Forest District Council has warmly welcomed a Government investment of £20.5m to transform important regeneration sites within Kidderminster town centre.

Read the full story on the future of Kidderminster's town centre

Local graduates have been able to continue their career development within the emerging technology sector in the county through the community of BetaDen.

Read the story how local graduates are helping to lead Business Innovation

BetaDen

Worcestershire’s commercial technology accelerator based at Malvern Hills Science Park has opened applications for its fourth cohort of businesses!

Read the full story of BetaDen launching Cohort 4

A designer who founded the world famous fashion brand Red or Dead has been commissioned by Wyre Forest District Council to create a new vision for the future of Kidderminster.

Read the full story on the future design plans for Kidderminster Town Centre

Businesses in Greater Birmingham are invited to apply for funding as part of a newly launched grant programme. The scheme is designed to help organisations adapt their business models in reaction to the changing economic climate caused by Covid-19. 

Read how GBSLEP are inviting businesses to appy for the new £2million grant fund

At a time where we can’t visit some of our favourite places, here at Visit Worcestershire we want to celebrate all things Worcestershire! From our food, to our amazing Countryside as well as our heritage and culture.

Find out how you can enter the photo competition

A Kidderminster business which has established itself as one of the world’s largest manufacturers of steel wheels for the off-highway and mobile crane industry has received the royal seal of approval.

See how Kidderminster business claims a Queen Award

Local business leaders were celebrating ‘virtually’ after being selected as winners in a PR competition organised by NWedR and NWBL.

Read the story here!

To kick-start new skills and career opportunities Pearson creates new portal to support UK workers furloughed or out of work owing to Covid-19. 

Read how UK Learns launched their £5million free online courses

To boost business for those that don’t usually do online sales, a local marketing company has launched a national shopping platform

To see how they launched a national online shopping site, read here!

If you’re off to collect a takeaway meal or pick up a picnic from the deli in Hagley, you will witness a village all lit up in blue! 

Read here how Hagley businesses light up their village

Worcestershire’s Technology Accelerator, BetaDen has successfully delivered a virtual pitch event to seventy invited guests for their second cohort of technology founders on Thursday 30 April.

Read how BetaDen successfully hosted their Virtual Pitch Event

The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting everyone nationally. Leaving many people not able to work from home and jobs disappearing leaving households without a stable income. On the other side, some employers are struggling to find people to fill vacancies

Find out about  Worcestershire Jobs Match new service to support all businesses 

This report looks at economic trends, UK GDP growth, the labour market, inflation and interest rates, investment market, commercial property occupation and the future outlook.

Read more and look at the economic impact of Covid-19

Government business grants are making a critical difference to Wyre Forest businesses affected by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Read all the information you need to know here

Redditch Borough businesses in line to receive Coronavirus support payments from the Government are being urged to make sure they are able to receive the money from Tuesday April 7.

Read all the information you need to know here.

Redditch Borough businesses in line to receive Coronavirus support payments from the Government are being urged to make sure they are able to receive the money from Tuesday April 7.

Read all the information you need to know here.

The Arts Council announces £160 million support package

The Arts Council is making £160 million of emergency funding available for those organisations and individuals who will need it during the Covid-19 crisis.

Find out all the information on the announcement from Art Council England

Awards organisers NWedR and NWBL are now calling for sponsors for the 2020 North Worcestershire Business Awards.  Local businesses are now offered sponsorship opportunities for this prestigious event.

See how you can sponsor the North Worcestershire Business Awards 2020

February 23 marks fifth anniversary of Hogarths taking over Stone Manor Hotel. Helena and Andy Hogarth purchased the hotel having operated Hogarths Solihull for 11 years previously.  Helena had visited Stone Manor as a child with her Grand-Parents

Read all about Hogarths Stone Manors birthday celebrations!

Abywell took the plunge and started a business making handcrafted solid oak barrel furniture made from reclaimed oak whiskey barrels.

Read here to hear how they started and turn whiskey barrels into bespoke furniture!

Council bosses brushed shoulders with one of the District’s largest employers in a bid to understand their business needs.

To find out more information and to read the story how Bromsgrove brushed shoulders with the big businesses

When a very young Caroline Brady sat sewing at her mothers knee in rural Ireland, little did she know, she would be making bespoke curtains for HGV trucks that travel around the world – from her workshop in Kidderminster.

Read more about Caroline's story and how SPACE at Hoo Farm has helped her operate her flourishing business

North Worcestershire based companies are invited to enter a competition to win a fantastic package of free PR support that lasts a year!

Entries are now open for a chance to win a valuable prize which will go to 12 lucky winners.

Read all about the competition and see how you could win a free package of PR

Helen, along with 9 other business owners, enrolled on Value Boost Camp with BizSmart. 

The format of Boost Camp harnesses the power of collaborative thinking from other business owners along with examining four key essential requirements of successfully scaling up! 

Read all about Helen's journey about the boost she needed to scale-up her business!

Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership and Worcestershire County Council are joining the annual week-long celebration of apprenticeships across England. 

From Monday 3 February through to Sunday 9 February as part of the National Apprenticeship Week 2020, the organisations will be taking time to recognise and applaud apprenticeship success stories from across Worcestershire as well as country-wide using the hashtags #NAW2020, LookBeyond and #WorcsApprentice.

Read the full story on the Support for National Apprenticeship week

Take a step towards turning your business idea into a reality or practice your pitch for your new business.

Enterprising Worcestershire and The University of Worcester are jointly hosting Start-Up QuickPitch 2020, taking place on the 26 of February at The Hive.

Read the full story and find out more information about the Start-up QuickPitch 2020

Twelve winning businesses are showcased in the “Celebrating the Natural Environment for Business” 2020 calendar produced by North Worcestershire Economic Development and Regeneration (NWedR) and NWBL (North Worcestershire Business Leaders).

Read the full story of our 2020 calendar launch

More than 170 Business leaders from across North Worcestershire attended the first business awards ‘celebrating the rising stars’ in the area. Six winners took home crystal trophies from the prestigious awards event held at Hogarths Stone Manor on Thursday 28 November. 

Read the awards round up.

NWedR and NWBL have unveiled the sparking crystal glass trophies to be presented at the first North Worcestershire Business Awards.

Winners of the six categories for the awards will celebrate with a glass trophy decorated with the distinctive #NWBusAwards silver star as its crowning glory.

Read the full story on the sparkling glass trophies unveiled for the first North Worcestershire Business Awards.

Since April this year, North Worcestershire businesses have received more than £600,000 of support from the Business Growth programme.

In North Worcestershire, The Business Growth Programme, part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and managed by Birmingham City Council provides grants of between £10,000 and £1million to businesses to help them grow and flourish.

Read the full story on Business Growth Programme.

Twenty of North Worcestershire’s best businesses have been named as finalists for the first North Worcestershire Business Awards.

This new North Worcestershire Business Awards, with headline sponsor Eureka Financial Solutions, received a large amount of nominations in all six categories. The finalists will join more than 160 guests at the glittering awards event at Hogarths Stone Manor on Thursday 28 November 2019 where the winners of each category will be announced.

Read the full story on First North Worcestershire Business Awards – Finalists Announced

Business leaders celebrated 10 years of regeneration across the Wyre Forest area at a breakfast event hosted by NWedR on behalf of Wyre Forest District Council at Hogarths Stone Manor this month.

More than 50 professionals from a range of business sectors heard about completed regeneration projects in and around Kidderminster and found out about work in progress and future initiatives to regenerate and boost the local economy.

Read the full story of ReWyre celebrating its 10 year anniversary.

Enterprising Worcestershire are thrilled to announce the shortlist for their 2019 Awards. Taking place on the 18 September at Hogarth's Stone Manor, the awards will be a celebration of the thriving start-up and growing businesses that have accessed support through the ERDF-funded Worcestershire County Council programme in the last two years.

Read the full story about Shortlisted Businesses for Awards.

Businesses in North Worcestershire now have the opportunity to win a glittering Customer Service award thanks to this extended category in the first North Worcestershire Business Awards.

Best Customer Service is one of six award categories, the winners of which will be presented a gorgeous glass trophy at the awards ceremony at Hogarth’s Stone Manor Hotel near Kidderminster on Thursday 28 November 2019.

Read the full story on celebrating customer service in the North Worcestershire area.

The team at the Rotary Creative Group were delighted to be one of twelve winners of the Celebrating North Worcestershire 2019 Calendar competition by saying how wonderful their Wyre Forest workplace is.  The 12 strong creative team appeared on the August page and everyone enjoyed taking part.

Read the full story on our August featured Rotary Creative Group.

A VIP guest, with a rich Royal Enfield background visited a showcase which for the last six weeks has celebrated the iconic motorcycle brand which hails from Redditch.

The grandson of R W Smith, one of the founders of Royal Enfield, turned up to the pop-up museum, in the Kingfisher Centre, which was installed following a partnership struck up between Redditch Borough Council and the international firm.

Read the full story on Redditch Royal Enfield guest welcomed.

With three years to go until the Commonwealth Games, Birmingham 2022 is marking this momentous milestone in the countdown to what will be a once-in-a-lifetime event, by hosting the Commonwealth Social, a free family friendly public celebration on Saturday 27 July 2019 from 12:00 – 19:00.

Taking place in Birmingham’s recently redeveloped Centenary Square, the Commonwealth Social will be a fabulous festival of sport, culture and food with the people of the West Midlands at its heart, celebrating everything that makes this vibrant region special.

Read the full story on Birmingham 2022.

Businesses are being invited to take part in a campaign to maximise opportunities and support growth in Worcestershire.

As part of Worcestershire Business Central’s Inspiring Growth campaign, local business are being given the opportunity to hear from expert speakers who can offer experiential advice and exchange ideas with peers at the Inspiring Growth - Journey to Success Roundtable.

Read the full story about the Be Inspired and Collaborate at Growth Events.

As businesses increasingly conduct the majority of their operations and information transfer in digital spaces, it has never been more important to ensure you are protected from potential cyber risks and threats. Herefordshire & Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce, alongside the Growth Hub, have worked closely with industry experts to put together a simple guide to taking the first steps to protect your business from the risks and costs associated with cyber crime.

Read the full story about Worcestershire Cyber Forum Event.

Leading engineering training provider, MGTS (Midland Group Training Services) had its brand new, purpose-built facility for engineering food maintenance and food process manufacturing at its Redditch training centre officially opened today (5 July) by Rachel Maclean MP. This doubles its capacity to train apprentices in the food industry sector from 50 to 100.

Read the full story on MGTS officially opening a new training facility for the food industry.

AP Insurance Brokers were quite surprised to be announced as one of the 12 winners for the 2019 ‘Celebrating North Worcestershire’ calendar.  The company’s owner, Andy Phillips said “My brothers thought it was very funny that I would be ‘Mr July’ but it’s great to be one of many companies doing so well in such a great growth area as North Worcestershire.”

Setting up a new business in the middle of a recession with no clients might not seem the best of ideas, but that is exactly what Andy Phillips from AP Insurance Brokers did in 2011.  Andy had been working in the “big company” world for over 25 years and decided that he wanted to build his own business based on his own values and client centric approach.

Read the full story From Recession to Success about Andy Phillips from AP Insurance Brokers.

The first North Worcestershire Business Awards is now open for entries! 

The glittering North Worcestershire Business Awards has been organised by North Worcestershire Economic Development and Regeneration (NWedR) and North Worcestershire Business Leaders (NWBL) alongside business leaders from across North Worcestershire.

There are five award categories to enter, the winners of which will be presented a gorgeous glass trophy at the awards ceremony at Hogarth’s Stone Manor Hotel near Kidderminster on Thursday 28 November 2019.

Read the full story about North Worcestershire Business Awards entries opening.

Local business leaders were celebrating being selected as winners in a PR competition at Hogarths Stone Manor recently. As part of their prize, the North Worcestershire based businesses are to be highlighted in the ‘Celebrating North Worcestershire’ 2020 business calendar, and will benefit from a 12 month package of PR support.

Organised by North Worcestershire Economic Development and Regeneration (NWedR) and NWBL (North Worcestershire Business Leaders) the competition is aimed at showcasing the diversity and scale of businesses across the area.

Read the full story on how Business leaders celebrate winning a place in the 2020 ‘Celebrating North Worcestershire Calendar’.

Excitement is building for the first ever North Worcestershire Business Awards as all the sponsorship opportunities have been snapped up by local companies.

The glittering North Worcestershire Business Awards ceremony organised by North Worcestershire Economic Development and Regeneration (NWedR) and North Worcestershire Business Leaders (NWBL) will be held at Hogarth’s Stone Manor Hotel near Kidderminster on Thursday 28 November 2019.

Read the full story about how Sponsors lined up for first North Worcestershire Business Awards.

Thorlux Lighting has been honoured with a Queen’s Award for Enterprise, in the Innovation category, for its SmartScan wireless lighting management system.

Thorlux luminaires have been manufactured continuously since 1936, the year Frederick William Thorpe founded the company. The company now operates from the Group’s modern 16,882m² self-contained factory in Redditch, Worcestershire and provides a comprehensive range of professional lighting and control systems for a wide variety of applications.

Read the full story about Thorlux winning Queen's award for Enterprise for Innovation.

As a small, local charity, The Basement Project in Bromsgrove offers support to 16-25 year olds with any issues or problems that they may be going through.

Young people come to The Basement for a variety of reasons, but sadly many are often homeless or at risk of homelessness. The Basement is a safe, secure environment and offers some stability in what are, all too often, very chaotic lives.

Read the full story on the Bromsgrove Basement Project.