Our E-business programme has plenty to celebrate. The free programme has helped hundreds of SMEs to learn how to use digital tools to grow their businesses, resulting in £10 million increase in business turnover across our boroughs.

On Thursday 20 April 2023 our partners South East Enterprise, who run the programme in Greenwich and Bexley, hosted an event with Bexley Business and Employment (BBE) at the Bexley Civic Offices celebrating some of the programmes successes.

Benefitting from a collaborative approach taken in the borough, the programme has safeguarded over 200 SME jobs, created over 75 new jobs in SMEs and increased revenue by £2.4million.

SMEs helped through the programme poured into the room at 6pm, excited to share their stories and network. Many of the event’s suppliers had been helped by the programme, including Graham Baker the evening’s official photographer, who contacted the programme to enhance his online marketing expertise. Read Graham’s story.

Cllr Baroness O'Neill addresses Bexley E-business celebration

Cllr Baroness O’Neill addresses Bexley E-business celebration

Local London Chairman and Leader of Bexley, Cllr Baroness Teresa O’Neill OBE opened the event, welcoming local business owners “I am proud to say that partnership work between South East Enterprise and the Council’s BBE service is proving to be extremely successful in supporting our business community and ‘Making Bexley Even Better’.  The programme is also working with our town centres to develop further positive engagement and address the digital divide that many businesses are facing.”

Sarah Murray, Director of Local London, added “The South East Enterprise team are doing a fantastic job. SMEs play a significant role in the local economy in north east and south east London, to see that the E-business Programme is making such a positive difference to small business owners here is hugely important. This is another success story for devolved funding. The model works brilliantly!”

Tony Goldstein, Director of South East Enterprise, spoke warmly of the business owners he’s met through the programme which matches you with an advisor who will help you develop a plan bespoke to your needs; from developing your website to TikTok marketing and everything in between.

Picture boards about 7 of the SMEs helped by the programme

Tony was joined by Jennie Blake owner of Serenity Sessions, a Bexley-based business that provides wellbeing training to help organisations build resilient teams.

Jennie Blake addressed the room of SME owners: “I want to express my gratitude to the programme and especially my advisor. I can’t even tell you the value Rebecca added, she became my mentor, cheerleader, proof-reader, and marketing guru. With her I was never alone. She helped me keep on track and grow my business. In fact, between year one and year two I doubled my turnover. She gave me the push I needed to get Serenity Sessions on Linkedin and I got one of my biggest contracts from there. Working a lot with charities who work with vulnerable people I am now able to reach more of them and help them to build their teams’ resilience so they in turn can help more people. Huge, huge thank you. And yes, it is free. There is no catch. You should get on the programme if you are an SME owner.”

Local businesses were entertained on the evening by students from Rose Bruford College in Sidcup, The Barley Ducks duo.

South East Enterprise will be running their first drop-in E Business Booster Session in May.  This is designed to generate ideas that will give businesses some quick wins. Find out more.

Find out more about the programme near you:

The Local London’s E-business programme provides free face-to-face support and advice for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in who want to know how to make the most of digital software and marketing tools to help their businesses succeed. Across our boroughs the programme has supported over 800 SME businesses.

More opportunities for businesses

Help us develop a local skills improvement plan to help close skills gaps and ensure local people have the skills to take up jobs: Local.london/lsip

Want to inspire young people to consider a wide range of careers? Find out about joining our careers programme as a volunteer and sharing your story with students: careershub.east@redbridge.gov.uk

Local London’s E-business programme is successfully helping small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) grow and future-proof their businesses using digital platforms and software.

The programme is free and pairs business owners with expert E-business advisors to create a bespoke package of digital advice and training to meet the business’s needs.

Since its inception in 2021, we have supported businesses in a huge number of sectors in Local London with over 3500 business support activities.

One of the many SMEs who have benefitted from the E-business programme is Bexley-based Graham Baker Photography.

Sharper focus on digital

Passionate about what he does, Graham is the owner and manager of the Bexley-based photo and videography business which has been delighting commercial clients since 2010.

As a specialist in brand photography, headshots, 360 virtual tours, eCommerce and business photography, Graham has a strong sense of how to creates stand-out visual content for brands and portray a business visually online.

Graham was keen to make sure his own business’s digital presence was as good and up to date as it could be. Nishal Deeljur E-business Advisor explains how they helped him as a more digitally advanced user.

Nishal said “At our first meeting, it was very clear to me that Graham had good online presence   and really embraces digital marketing strategies including content, email and social media marketing in his business. We discussed some of the workshops available that would go a little deeper into some of these areas – something more suitable for him as a more advanced user. Graham felt it was a good opportunity to refresher his knowledge and was motivated make changes to benefit the business.

We had discussions about various aspects of email marketing campaigns and outreach to clients, offering new services and automation processes. Email automation is a crucial part of the journey of turning leads into customers.

This can save time – allowing Graham to concentrate on other aspects of his business – whilst keeping clients engaged and up to date.

Graham attended the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) workshop and wants to improve his website rankings on google. We looked at a website SEO checklist and listed the tools which are there to help in each sector. We also looked at some effective techniques and support for improving SEO including plugins on the website, monitoring and checking progression.

During our one-to-one meetings we brainstormed alternative areas to gain clients, as well as exciting elements to add to the business in order to increase profits.

I am delighted that having attended some of the workshops Graham feels reinvigorated to add new a dimension to a business he is passionate about.”

Graham Baker, owner and manager of Graham Baker Photography said “Although I am no beginner to digital marketing, as a business owner I owe it to myself to make sure that I am doing the best I can to support my business and help my clients.

We should all be taking advantage of opportunities to grow, and this e-business programme was free, so even more of a bonus.

In fact, it’s been insightful. I’ve refreshed my knowledge of some things and got some new ideas that I can implement. The online world is fast evolving so it’s great to make sure what I am doing is still current.”

Finding the E-business programme near you

Find out more about the programme and job vacancies in your area:

 

Councillor Teresa O’Neill OBE, Chairman of Local London and Leader of Bexley Council, has been nominated for a lifetime peerage in the House of Lords.

Councillor O’Neill who chairs Local London, a membership of nine east London boroughs that delivers programmes valued at around £85 million to improve the lives of people in the sub region, is the longest-serving Council leader in London.

She has served Bexley Council since 1998 and as Leader of the Council since May 2008, leading her party to four successive election victories.

This month Cllr O’Neill was also awarded the accolade of Council Leader of the Year at this year’s national Cllr Awards, recognising her strong stewardship of the Council over the past 14 years, her work on national and regional organisations, including Homes England, and her role in managing the London-wide response to Covid.

Councillor Teresa O’Neill OBE commented “Being a successful Council leader means working with your fellow Councillors, Council Officers, residents and our partners. It is a privilege to be able to serve the people of our borough and across London. I am pleased that we are making a difference and grateful for the recognition the award gives to me, to the whole team at Bexley – and to our borough.”

Sarah Murray, Director of Local London said “Teresa is a strong figurehead for local government and I am delighted that the work of our Chairman and Leader of Bexley, one of our nine member boroughs, is being recognised both with a lifetime peerage at the House of Lords and as Council Leader of the Year.”

Councillor O’Neill was awarded the Order of the British Empire (Officer) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2015 for service to the community and local government in London. She was awarded the Freedom of the City of London in April 2022 for her part in the London-wide strategic planning and response to Covid.

She is currently Vice Chair (Leader of the Conservative group) on London Councils, Deputy Chair of the Local Government Association, Board member of Thames Estuary Growth Board and a Board Member of Homes England.

About Local London

Local London is a sub-regional partnership of nine boroughs: Barking and Dagenham, Bexley, Bromley, Enfield, Greenwich, Havering, Newham, Redbridge and Waltham Forest.

Representing around 2.6 million residents and 100,000 businesses, we are a champion for this sub-region to ensure it responds to a set of mutual issues and challenges, and benefits from existing and emerging opportunities.

Find out more about Local London’s programmes, partnership and policy work.

Projects in five Local London boroughs will benefit from Arts Council England’s Creative People and Places fund to make arts and culture more accessible.

Creative People and Places is a three-year programme, that will invest £38.3 million from National Lottery funding to boost access to arts and culture in areas where engagement is far lower than the national average. Creative People and Places has added 39 projects in total across the country to its 2022-25 portfolio.

Five of the six projects in the capital that were awarded this funding are in Local London.

Local London projects that will benefit from Creative People and Places funding:

1.     Barking & Dagenham | Creative Barking & Dagenham

Project partners: Studio 3 Arts (Lead), Barking and Dagenham Collective, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, Barking and Dagenham College.

Creative Barking and Dagenham: with a growing network of local resident Cultural Connectors at its heart Creative Barking and Dagenham wants to see local people choosing, creating and taking part in brilliant arts and cultural experiences in the borough.

Find out more >

2.     Bexley | Three Rivers

Project partners: Peabody Trust, The Exchange Erith, TACO!, Orbit Housing.

Made in the Estuary: Three Rivers bring people together to work out how to use art to make a difference. This project will develop community run platforms such as radio stations, festivals and workshops to increase participation in the arts.

Find out more >

3.     Havering | Havering Changing

Project partners: Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch (Lead), Clarion Futures (the charitable foundation of Clarion Housing Group), Havering Colleges, Havering Interfaith Forum, Havering Volunteer Centre, Havering Youth Services and myplace, Rainham Association for Village Events (R.A.V.E.), The Mercury Shopping Centre.

Havering Changing: Havering is changing fast and this funding will be used for additional activities informed by a rapidly developing programme of innovative, community-led arts and culture happening in disconnected communities.

Find out more >

4.     Newham | World on our Doorstep

Project partners: Community Links (Lead), Caramel Rock, Faithful Friends, National Cricket League, University of East London.

World on our Doorstep: Celebrating the richness of the most culturally diverse borough in the country, World on our Doorstep places the community at the heart of decision-making around access, participation, creation and curation of arts in local spaces.

5.     Redbridge | Creative Redbridge

Project partners: Vision Redbridge, Culture & Leisure (Lead), Friends of Loxford, Muslimah Sports Association, Redbridge Council Volunteer Service, SPACE Studios, Mercarto Metropolitano.

Creative Redbridge: Creative Redbridge will build a people-led programme, using creativity to empower and enable lasting positive change with a measurable effect on people’s well-being and levels of social energy and activism.

Watch this video to find out more about the programme or visit www.artscouncil.org.uk/creativepeopleandplaces/projects

People are being urged to help shape exciting plans for improved, fast public transport services connecting Ebbsfleet, Dartford, Slade Green, Erith and Belvedere with Abbey Wood.

The proposals would provide faster connections into London and to other parts of Kent. They would make journeys by public transport quicker and more attractive and reduce the need for trips by car.

Cllr Jeremy Kite, Leader of Dartford Borough Council said: “The C2E Partnership are at a stage where they would like to know residents’ views about five potential options.

“Three of the options are for extending the Elizabeth line from its current planned terminus at Abbey Wood towards Dartford and Ebbsfleet. One is to improve existing rail services to connect into the Elizabeth Line at Abbey Wood and one is to provide a new bus rapid transit, building on the Fastrack network in Kent.

“By giving their views, residents can influence which options are taken forward for further development. So I encourage everyone to have their say by visiting the consultation link before it closes on 28 February.”

Cllr Teresa O’Neill OBE, Leader of the London Borough of Bexley and Chairman of the C2E Partnership commented: “This is a really important opportunity for residents and businesses to give their views on how important improved public transport links are to them. While there is a lot of uncertainty at the moment on the future of public transport, we know that better links will be fundamental to our plans to bring forward new high quality homes and jobs which can be accessed in safe, sustainable ways”.

“By responding to this consultation, residents and businesses can demonstrate to Government how important new public transport links are to the future of this area”.

You can respond to the consultation here:

www.abbeywood2ebbsfleet.com

The consultation closes on 28 February 2021.

 

Notes to editors:

The C2E Partnership was formed in 2016 as an informal group of authorities to promote an extension of the Elizabeth line beyond its current planned terminus at Abbey Wood towards Ebbsfleet. It is comprised of stakeholders that represent local communities in the area including:

In 2019, Government allocated funding for a major study to assess and develop a range of different transport options (including both Elizabeth line extensions and lower cost options) in order to support new housing and employment growth along the corridor. The C2E Partnership is responsible for the delivery of this study.

MSQ Partners, a leading UK marketing communications group, has been appointed to deliver wide-ranging communications support to the Thames Estuary.

The Group will support an ambitious vision to unlock the potential of the Thames Estuary region – which includes parts of London, Essex and Kent.

The long-term goal is to generate thousands of new jobs; hundreds of new houses; new transport and digital infrastructure and contribute billions of pounds to the economy by 2050.

The Government has set up a dedicated Thames Estuary Growth Board to drive this work forward and appointed Kate Willard, as Thames Estuary Envoy, to lead it.

Ahead of publication of the Board’s first plan later this year, MSQ Partners have been appointed to deliver wide-ranging communications support to generate domestic and international interest in the region to encourage investment and support.

Their commission, following a competitive tendering exercise, includes provision of campaign development, media relations and content, website development, film making and brand design. The work will be provided through a joined-up team, bringing together two of MSQ’s specialist agency capabilities – Lloyd Northover and Smarts.

Kate Willard, Thames Estuary Envoy, said: “We are thrilled to appoint MSQ. Communicating our vision for the Estuary and generating momentum around our place-making story will be vital from the outset. MSQ pitched a high-quality proposal to us demonstrating a razor-sharp understanding of our brief backed up by a strong technical offer and a real desire to deliver a brilliant project. They will be an excellent partner to the Thames Estuary.”

Simon Ward, the project lead at MSQ (and CEO of Lloyd Northover), said: “The work that the Thames Estuary Growth Board is planning is ambitious, bold and will deliver high impact results for the area. We are proud to be part of the work that helps achieve their goals. We have a history of taking on – and delivering on – complex, multi-stakeholder briefs, and we’re excited to put our skills into practice with Thames Estuary.”