What does growth look like for East Sussex small businesses in a year like no other?
19th October 2021
Author EditorPosted on Categories Finance
Businesses don’t grow on their own.
They need the fundamentals: processes, infrastructure, funding and a strategy to grow.
Even with the best plans in place, growth plans are at the mercy of external forces: sometimes exciting and opening doors; often scary and the unpredictable.
But the most important factor that determines whether a business will grow is having people with drive, motivation and skills to push the business on.
always possible has been lucky enough to work with a range of incredibly impressive, resilient businesses across East Sussex through the South East Business Boost (SEBB) programme, part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund.
A year into the programme, we’ve seen some amazing examples of drive in the face of the some of the most challenging economic conditions ever. It’s fascinating to see both new and established companies take a long look at their business goals to work out what kind of growth is important to them, and chase it.
Here’s the stories of three of those businesses.
Shrub Provisions
Shrub Provisions Ltd was founded in September 2020. Their aim is to supply chefs and restaurants with the highest quality produce from farms in Sussex and Kent and to provide full transparency on where the sustainably sourced produce comes from. There is a concern across the industry that the links between restaurants and farms are not as clear as they should be.
They quickly built up a network of 25 farms and 50 restaurants to supply. COVID hit their plans hard, with half their client restaurants closing. However, they survived by pivoting to a veg-box delivery business and trading at farmers markets to boost revenues.
Shrub decided to use the spring 2021 period to make their first capital investments with the help of a £4700 SEBB grant to make the most of better-than-expected trade to date and improve their efficiency.
Shrub invested in a van, fridge and racking. This is allowing them to more than double their delivery orders and allows them to reduce weekly collection times by 6 hours. It allowed them to improve storage capacity & facilities as well as increase the range of chilled products. Leaving them in great shape to build up their business when their clients re-opened in the summer.
Tidmas Townsend
Tidmas Townsend is a business packaging printer & manufacturer. The company is 65 years old and over the past 12 years turnover has increased by 400%, staffed by passionate people, alive to new opportunities brought on by the rise of e-commerce.
They’d noticed a gap in the market. Demand for short runs (50 – 10k) of printed large-letter boxes was growing. Such bespoke packaging is highly popular for sales of e-commerce items, but hard to get hold of in small quantities.
The company purchased print equipment part funded by a £10,000 SEBB Grant to create an offer of full colour boxes for micro sellers: a customer base turbocharged by the further move online of retail during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Investment in new technology at the right time has meant efficiency savings in that can be measured in days while the business will create 2 new jobs to operate the equipment.
Alfriston Wood Cabins
They opened in July of 2020, offering two self catering woodland cabins in the heart of the South Downs National Park. Despite COVID-19, they had established themselves quickly, with 92% occupancy in the first 9 months of trading.
Demand for business has been high. COVID has caused large spikes in UK residents booking UK holidays. They wanted to make the most of the positive trading conditions to grow.
From guest surveys, it became clear that a high number prefer to limit their use of vehicles, and also explore the local area by other means, are active and love activities.
With part funding of £10,000 from a SEBB grant, Alfriston Wood Cabins are investing in an electric van to offer more customer transportation: from pickups, to paddle-boarding excursions and curated day trips to the best local establishments.
Living and working in a national park meant they wanted their business to grow but only in a way that was right for their local area: promoting environmentally low-impact practices throughout their business, proving growth can be sustainable.
If you are an E Sussex SME or sole trader with an idea for growth, take a look at the SEBB programmes to get some expert help and funding to make the most of your motivation.
always possible are a strategic development company led by designers, educators, and business specialists.
South East Business Boost Programme has been part funded by the European Regional Development Fund 2014-20. It is a partnership between Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, Essex County Council, Kent County Council, East Sussex County Council and Thurrock Council.