BUSINESSES in south Essex are about to get a £1.8million cash injection to help them prosper.

Southend Council secured Government cash for a business support programme, to help the town’s small and medium-sized companies to grow.

Essex Chambers of Commerce is spearheading a programme of events and workshops where businesses can find how they can benefit from grants, innovation expertise and support for new and growing business.

The scheme begins this month and will run until March.

The aims of the workshops will include stimulating business growth, encouraging business exports, safeguarding jobs and creating new job opportunities.

In particular, the scheme will support the ambitions of startup enterprises which are often most vulnerable in their initial phase.

The chambers’ plan will be to engage, inspire and support local business with help on networking, training and, where possible, one-to-one mentoring.

Denise Rossiter, chief executive of Essex Chambers of Commerce, will supervise the programme, working closely with the Southend Council’s economic development team.

She said: “We started the process with a representative survey to establish what businesses felt they needed most.

“The answers couldn’t have been clearer and as a result we have a viable shortlist of almost 60 topics. Most of these will become workshops, making the programme the most comprehensive of its kind ever seen in the county.

“Because Essex Chambers is determined to offer the maximum advantage to local businesses, we have taken the view that this will be a free-of-charge programme.

“As if that’s not special enough, we’re also working on a one-to-one follow-up system for workshops, which should ensure that whatever they learn in theory can also be thoroughly implemented in practice.”

The funding was secured from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund through Lancaster University, which is leading the creation of 15 new growth areas or hubs across the UK.

Graham Longley, councillor responsible for enterprise, tourism and economic development, said: “Small businesses are the foundation of long-term economic growth.

“Southend Council is committed to local support that is simple, easy to find and designed around their needs to help them start up and scale up.”

Full details will be available soon at www.essexchambers.co.

uk and at www.networking-onsea.

co.uk.

Alternatively, call Essex Chambers on 01702 560100.