Salford businesses owners given helping hand by new Evolve Digital Programme

An online programme made available by Steve Kempster of Lancaster University will be helping small family-run businesses and enterprises across the city.

The programme, called Evolve Digital, is part of a national research study backed by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and Innovative UK.

Fully functional places will be made available to SMEs in Salford this February and again in April.

It will support businesses to become more productive by successfully implementing digital technologies.

Professor Kempster said: “The pandemic has made it clear that if we don’t shape the digitalisation of our businesses, it will shape us.”

He added: “For some companies, that perhaps didn’t have a strong focus on technology before, this shift can be really tough, and in family-run businesses, in particular, it can bring emotional as well as practical challenges”

Evolve Digital enables business leaders to explore how they can make their enterprises more sustainable for future generations through the use of digital tools.

Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) has been chosen to deliver Evolve digital by the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and Innovative UK.

The programme is being undertaken as part of a national research study and the outcomes will inform the UK government policy on the needs of small, family, businesses.

Evolve Digital is one of the most recent programmes created by LUMS to give a helping hand to small enterprises, particularly in areas like Salford.

Businesses across Salford that hire between two and fifty people will be eligible for places on Evolve Digital.

For any business owners in the area interested in the opportunity, sessions will be held for fifteen hours per month over a three month period.

Places on the Evolve Digital programme will be fully funded by BEIS and Innovative UK.

New Evolve Digital cohorts are beginning on February 10th and April 27th, 2021. To find out more, and to register interest in taking part, click here.