Meet one of the stars from BBC Ones Dragon's Den, and one of Harborough Innovation Centres' newest residents, Hedkayse.

Learn how this business has developed some serious tough cookie tech into an innovative product range, hear about their experiences and discover how they are gearing up for some hard-hitting industry disruption!

This is a fantastic opportunity to network with fellow business owners within the Harborough District, and have a guided tour of the Harborough Innovation Centre and their multi-functioning workspaces and meeting areas.

This event is open to all businesses across the Harborough district. Refreshments will be provided. 

Date: Tuesday 28 June 2022
Time: 10am - 12noon
Location: Harborough Innovation Centre, Airfield Business Park, Leicester Road, Market Harborough, LE16 7WB

The Young Innovators Awards are now open, giving young people the chance to turn their business idea into reality! Winners will receive tailored business support, a living allowance and a grant for £5000. 

To be eligible for an award you must:

• be a UK resident who has the right to work in the UK, or will have the right to work in the UK for the duration of the award
• be aged from 18 to 30 on the date of competition closing
• not have previously received a Young Innovators Award from Innovate UK

You are still eligible to apply if you are receiving support from The Prince's Trust in-person Enterprise programme.

Your project must:

• address a problem
• be innovative
• be significantly better than what is currently on offer including from existing businesses

Competition closes: Wednesday 27 July 2022 11:00am

Work experience is an invaluable experience for young people. It helps them to learn what the real working world is like, what skills and qualifications they need, clear career path and most importantly it breaks down the barriers and perceptions of different jobs and sectors. 

Offering a work experience placement to a young person will give you:

• A sense of pride that you are giving young people valuable opportunities to aid their future
• Access to talented young people who may join your business in the future
• The opportunity to proactively increase your business profile with young people.

Places are needed in a large range of industries. If you think this is something you might be able to support with please contact LEBC on: 0116 240 7270 or send an email to: requests@leics-ebc.org.uk. 

Adding Value grants are available for farm buildings, machinery or equipment that will add value to crops or livestock by increasing productivity and improving the environment.

It is competitive, so the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) will score your application based on merit. RPA will award a grant to the strongest applications.

RPA will score how well the project meets the funding priorities. These are projects that:

• increase or improve processing
• grow your business
• process products for the first time
• shorten supply chains
• encourage collaboration and partnerships
• improve the environment

The grant will close at midnight on 21 July 2022.

A limited number of Harborough District business can benefit from a sponsored licence for the Zellar online sustainability platform, (which would normally cost an average £250 per business). Harborough District Council are funding this and are the first District Council in the country to do this. 

Zellar is an online sustainability platform which can help you to cut your carbon footprint. Through Zellar, you can:

• Access your Zellar score and create your sustainability profile
• Calculate, benchmark and reduce your carbon emissions
• Adopt green technology
• Offset your carbon footprint
• Support and enhance biodiversity

Apprenticeships are a great way to train up new employees and to upskill your current staff!

They can help to:

• fill key skill gaps in your business
• boost employee motivation by investing in their development
• improve retention

If you have under 50 employees, most of the training and assessment costs will be covered by the government!

There are a range of courses available across a variety of sectors and levels. You can search them here: www.gov.uk/employers-find-apprenticeship-training

National Apprenticeship Week will be celebrated from 6th - 12th of February 2023. You can get prepared by joining early planning webinars for employers on Friday 8 July at 10:00am – 10:30am.

If you would like to talk more about apprenticeships, get in touch with the Economic Development team. Email business@harborough.gov.uk