The Business Growth Hub describes itself as "a community for ambitious growing businesses to thrive, with the support and expertise of first class industry leaders" which "connects companies that want to grow their bottom line, share their experiences, develop their profile, find partners and create new business growth." Based in Manchester it is directed primarily to businesses in Greater Manchester and the North West. Membership of the Hub is free and businesses can join on-line.
The Hub's services include events such as talks and seminars, electronic newsletters and a blog. Recent blog posts include "To tweet or not to tweet" by Naomi Timperley, who describes herself as a "director of @enterpriselabUK and Social Media Boom, Dragons Den survivor and Social Media fan", and "Using Intellectual Property to Compete" by Kieran Killough of Harrison Goddard Foote.
Many of the events and much of the content for the blog are contributed by the Hub's partners which include banks, chartered accountants, government agencies, law firms, local authorities, patent and management consultancies, trade mark agencies, universities and other networks.
Access to networks which connect with the Hub is probably the most useful service for small businesses. These include The IP Net, an on-line market for new products and processes which claims to have 50 universities and 120 multinationals on board and Access to Finance which helps businesses identify the right kind of finance for their needs and introduces them to possible providers.
I joined the Hub in the early hours of this morning and I hope shortly to contribute to its activities.
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