AD:VENTURE, a business support programme for start-ups in the Leeds City Region, has been announced as principal sponsor of this year’s Kirklees Business Conference in Huddersfield.
Specialist advisors from AD:VENTURE will be offering free business advice surgeries at the event for the Kirklees business community on 18 March at The John Smith’s Stadium.
Tony Armson, grants officer at AD:VENTURE, will also be delivering a talk as part of the ‘Funding and Finance for SMEs’ seminar. He will be joined by Pete Waugh who is the co-founder of Huddersfield-based software development company, Torchbearer, which has received support through the programme.
AD:VENTURE helps ambitious new businesses trading for less than three years in North and West Yorkshire. Since the programme started at the end of 2016, it has provided over £1.3m of funding to start-up firms and helped create 391 jobs.
Advisors from AD:VENTURE and Kirklees Business Hub Team will be joined at Kirklees Business Conference by representatives from Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership, Product and Process Innovation (PAPI), Business Enterprise Fund, Leeds City Region Supply Chain programme, The Skills Service and The Prince’s Trust.
Sarah Carling, programme manager at Leeds City Region AD:VENTURE Programme, said: “We’re thrilled to be sponsoring Kirklees Business Conference. The event provides a fantastic platform to showcase some of the exciting start-up businesses in our region, as well as allowing us to demonstrate the support available through the AD:VENTURE programme to help them reach their full potential.”
Huddersfield-based Torchbearer, which specialises in mobile app design, website development and game development, has accessed over £8,000 in grants though AD:VENTURE, the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and Kirklees Council.
Pete Waugh, director of Torchbearer, will be speaking at the event. He said: “I’m really looking forward to sharing our growth story at the conference and meeting fellow business owners. Since working with the team at AD:VENTURE our business has grown massively and we are looking to recruit two new full-time members of the team to service our expanding client base.”
Kirklees Business Conference takes place at the John Smith’s Stadium in Huddersfield on 18 March 2020 from 8am-2.30pm. Earlier this month it was announced that Danni Hewson, the voice of business on BBC 5 live, will be the event’s keynote speaker. Free tickets are available to book on the website at KBC2020.co.uk.
AD:VENTURE is a European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) match funded programme which offers grant funding, mentoring and business development advice to pre-start, young and new firms with growth potential in the Leeds City Region. The programme also runs free events tailored to new businesses and offers support to young people who are keen to develop entrepreneurial skills.
For more information on AD:VENTURE go to https://ad-venture.org.uk/