The Strategic Business Growth programme from the Cambridge Judge Entrepreneurship Centre recognises the challenges that businesses face when scaling up. We are recruiting the next cohort for February 2020. It is designed to support those companies that are determined to find growth drivers to overcome such challenges.
Since its launch in December 2015, 36 firms have successfully redesigned their growth strategy to scale-up. The programme has supported companies across a variety of industry sectors; from construction, retail, healthcare, to precision agriculture. Prominent companies include Healx, who recently raised $56 million.
Dr Tim Guilliams, previous participant and CEO of Healx said, “Brilliant hands on programme to help you take a step back and think strategically about growth.”
Delivered in three two-day modules over the course of four months, the next cohort will commence in February 2020. The module format allows companies to build their management capabilities and establish a network of contacts for both business and personal development purposes.
Strategic Business Growth is not only for the CEO or founder of the company, but for its leadership team to enable them to bond and commit to the growth strategy. The modules provide access to the latest management thinking to facilitate the sharing of insights about commonly experienced challenges and possible solutions. Our research practitioners are on hand to offer guidance to individual teams, customising the programme to meet specific needs. A key component involves collaborative problem solving and learning from the experience of other participants.
The Strategic Business Growth programme (formerly known as the SME Growth Challenge) will appeal to a wider range of entrepreneurs. The announcement coincides with our 2020 sponsorship for the SME National Awards and SME Cambridgeshire Awards, where entrepreneurs from the Cambridge ecosystem have been nominated.
“Growth is one of the most challenging leadership efforts of any CEO and his executive team,” said Stelios Kavadias, Professor of Enterprise Studies in Innovation & Growth and Co-Director of the Entrepreneurship Centre. “We have created a programme that informs companies on how strategy should guide their growth decisions and actions, while ensuring they are aligned in their beliefs, approach and eventually actions to realise their desired growth outcomes.”
The Strategic Business Growth cohort for February 2020 is now being recruited. Eligible companies must have a positive turnover and a leadership team committed to a vision for growth.