Business support helps new businesses start and grow in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire
In a year that saw an end to many of the nationally funded start-up support programmes, Wenta has continued to provide business advice and support to over 1200 people looking to start up their own business across Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Milton Keynes and North London.
560 of these clients went on to start their own business with the benefit of one to one advice, online support, workshops and incubation facilities. Our commitment to continue to support pre-start, start-up and early stage businesses required an investment of over £300k from Wenta’s own resources.
Steve McAteer, Chief Executive of Wenta said:
“Wenta prides itself on offering the right support to new business start-ups in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and beyond.
The home counties have some of the highest start-up survivability rates in the country. Some of this success has to be down to the levels of free business support and training available in the region. Over 90% of Wenta’s clients who started a business last year are still trading after 12 months, which is fantastic.
When you consider the value of every start-up to the local economy, the number of businesses that Wenta helped to start and support in their early months is worth over £5.64m”
Anthony Chambers, one of Wenta’s clients who used the advisory service before starting up his business said:
“My Wenta Advisor was great at pointing me in the right direction, telling me exactly what would and wouldn’t work and it really gave me the confidence to start up my business.”
If you would like to find out more on how Wenta can help you start up your own business visit www.wenta.co.uk/business-advice.
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Notes for Editor
For more information contact:
Jennifer Dong - Marketing Coordinator
Wenta
The Wenta Business Centre
Colne Way
Watford
Herts
WD24 7ND
Tel: 01923 691 370
Email: jenniferdong@wenta.co.uk
Web: www.wenta.co.uk
• Wenta was founded in 1983 to encourage business start-ups and to support small businesses in South and West Hertfordshire. The agency is independently funded through the ownership and management of its three business centres in Enfield, Watford and Potters Bar and management of two further centres in Stevenage. These business centres comprise workshops and offices with a combined space of over 100,000 square feet, let on monthly licence terms to small businesses. Wenta also attract funding from a number of public sector organisations including Job Centre Plus, European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Regional Growth Fund (RGF) as well as a number of local authorities in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. Wenta is now the largest enterprise agency in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire and is the second largest in the Eastern region.
• Wenta run a number of programmes aimed at inspiring young people and giving them the confidence to make their ideas happen. Wenta’s education team work with local schools, colleges and universities to promote enterprise and entrepreneurship.
• Wenta’s advisory team work in partnership with organisations such as The Prince’s Trust and Job Centre Plus to provide business advice and support to start-up, new and existing businesses across Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. Services include: one-to-one general business advice; training and skills development courses; specialist advice including Tax, Legal and IT; and online support via our business advice portal, My Incubator Ventures.
• Wenta also run a series of business incubation centres under the ‘My Incubator’ brand located at The Business & Technology Centre in Stevenage, Basepoint in Luton, The Wenta Business Centre in Watford, The Enterprise Centre in Potters Bar, Hertford Regional College in Ware and the Bedford i-lab. These centres are designed to help entrepreneurs at their starting point and create successful businesses. My Incubator offer start-ups a work station for 3 months free of charge on the proviso that they work with our onsite advisory team to ensure that they are ready to sell their product or service, raise money or become investor ready and importantly connect them with other individuals and businesses to network.