Lloyds Bank and the Bank of Scotland Social Entprepreneurs Programme gives social entrepreneurs the best possible chance of success by providing access to support and funding.

The Lloyds Bank Social Entrepreneurs Programme has supported 1,350 social entrepreneurs in the first five years of the programme.

There are three courses on offer, Start up, Trade up and Scale up.

• Start up - the project is in the planning stages but ready to start, or less than two years old. It makes £0 - £15,000 a year. 
• Trade up - The project has been running for at least a year and makes at least £15,000 a year.
• Scale up - the project was probably established two or more years ago, and probably has two or more paid members of staff.  It makes at least £75,000 a year (no upper limit).

For more information please go to the SSE website.

The Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses UK programme is designed to provide high-quality, practical education and business support to leaders of high-growth small businesses and social enterprises across the country.

The programme brings together leaders of small businesses from across industry sectors and creates unique networking and peer learning opportunities.

For further information please go to the Goldman Sachs UK website.

Starting a business is one of the most exciting and challenging things you can do. But, with so much to think about, many people just don’t know where to start. Informi have put together a step by step action plan to help you get your business up and running in 20 days, along with a free ebook to refer to along the way.

For more information, visit the Informi website here

The chamber provides a range of:

•        business support

•        networking events

•        expos

•        awards

•        marketing content and PR submissions

•        plus legal advice

•        international trade advice

•        policy comms, support and representation

•        signposting to other organisations, grants, finance, and funding

•        startup support

•        young professional support and development

…and discounted business services like

•        export docs

•        translation services

•        training

•        high street discounts

•        discounted AA cover for you and your fleet

Be part of a wider network of Chambers including Cannock Chase, Lichfield and Tamworth, Sutton Coldfield, Solihull, Birmingham, Transatlantic, Global Asian Business Chamber and Future Faces all divisions of the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, we are your local business chamber in Staffordshire. See the link below for more details, or contact the head of our chamber in Cannock Chase, Richard Brooks – r.brooks@birmingham-chamber.com or call him on 07796 242029 for an informal chat.

For more information please visit the Chamber website