Frequesntly Asked Questions

Here arethe answers to the most commonly asked questions about the Tameside Business Family. If you do not find the answer to your question here, please feel free to contact us.

What is the Tameside Business Family?
How can I join the Tameside Business Family?
What are the benefits of becoming a member?
What is the local Enterprise Team?
What is the Tameside Business Family Charter?
What are the Tameside Business Family Objectives?
What is the Tameside Business Family Constitution?

What is the Tameside Business Family?

The Tameside Business Family is an exciting new enterprising concept that involves local businesses in the design, development and co-ordination of business support services in Tameside, encouraging them to grow and prosper, to learn from each other and to work towards a much more enterprising business community.

The creation of the Tameside Business Family was driven by the need to increase enterprise in Tameside, and to promote self-employment, in particular to specific communities where there are few enterprising role models.

The Business Family was created to fill the gap by offering a friendly, informal and supporting role to help individuals through the process, nurturing them through the initial pre start and start up process and offering ongoing mentoring beyond that.

At the same time we are addressing the current issues impacting on existing local businesses and designing seminars, workshops and master classes that will deliver help, advice and mentoring.

We also provide links and referrals into our two main partners Business Link North West and Blue Orchid who are working alongside us to deliver effective support.

The Tameside Business Family is changing the whole culture around enterprise, changing perceptions and raising aspirations amongst local people.

How can I join the Tameside Business Family?

Any business with a trading address in Tameside who wants to belong to the Business Family can be part of this growing FREE local network – there is no charge to join.

Partnership organisations delivering services into Tameside are also actively encouraged to join as members.

Anyone can subscribe to receive the regular Tameside Business Family electronic newsletter – you do not have to be a member or have a trading address in Tameside.

What are the benefits of becoming a member?

Membership of the Tameside Business Family helps you to link up with other local businesses at a series of regular member events. Collaboration and mutual support underpin the ethos of the Tameside Business.

Members have their own directory page, news feed facility and receive our regular electronic newsletter.

What is the local Enterprise Team?

The Tameside MBC local Enterprise Team are at the core of the support services available from the Business Family and are at the forefront of increasing enterprise in Tameside. The team work with entrepreneurial individuals, large and small businesses as well as social enterprises throughout the borough.

They have active links with all regional and sub-regional business support delivery providers, particularly Business Link North West and Blue Orchid, and are best placed to offer sound business advice as well as being best positioned to signpost into direct help and advice across a whole range of business related issues.

A snapshot of some of the things the team can offer:-

• Help improve the survival rate and promote growth of locally owned businesses.
• Provide a gateway to a readily accessible business support network by drawing on the considerable expertise and experience of the team and other resources available in Tameside.
• Improve enterprise and help business employment opportunities.
• Provide a gateway to Business Link North West – involving them in our local aims and objectives for the borough.
• Provide an informative Tameside Business Family website.
• Circulate a regular informative emailed newsletter to the local business community.
• Deliver a series of business support seminars, workshops and master classes targeted to meet the specific needs of local business owners and managers – these are already well established as a benchmark for excellent employer engagement and networking best practice.
• Access to a vibrant Women in Business network in Tameside.
• Link local businesses into a free Knowledge to Innovate programme, Access to Finance initiative and other programmes on offer via the Northwest Development Agency.
• Research property and relocation issues and provide information on the latest local regeneration updates.
• Links to £300 million Building Schools for the Future programme in Tameside, and links to the £1 billion national supply chain via Carrillion.
• Links to Groundwork and a resource efficiency programme designed to help improve environmental performance and save money.

What is the Tameside Business Family Charter?

Our aim is to move Tameside from “Deprived Area” to “Sustainable Economy” in 10 years.

As an area identified as being eligible for support from the Working Neighbourhood Fund, our economic situation is a matter of definition – we are a deprived area. This is not a position to be proud of, nor one that we in Tameside enjoy. It is our declared ambition that Tameside will, within 10 years, move from its current deprived position to become a vibrant, dynamic and independently sustainable economy.

It can be done – Tameside has demonstrated significant progress in recent years. However we still have relatively low numbers of business start-ups and little growth in our small enterprise culture. With our strong and committed stakeholder partnerships, innovative new concepts for infrastructure, sustainable local business enterprise and continuing support from European Development Funding, and other funding bodies, we will achieve our ambition and catalyse an effective culture change within the borough.

What are the Tameside Business Family Objectives?

1. Top increase total entrepreneurial activity among the population in deprived local areas by creating opportunity for those people where no opportunity currently exists.
2. To improve the survival rate (reducing the failure rate) and promote the sustainable growth of locally owned businesses.
3. To build an accessible business support network by drawing on the considerable available expertise and resources available in Tameside and beyond in Greater Manchester sub-region.
4. To attract appropriate inward investment and franchising into deprived areas to increase employment opportunity for local labour resources.
5. By these actions improve the wealth of the population by enterprise and increased employment opportunity to bring Tameside out of the “Deprived Area” category.

What is the Tameside Business Family Constitution?

The Tameside Business Family has a formal company constitution, using the Tame Valley Regeneration Consortium Limited (Tame Valley Partnership) a company registered by guarantee – which steers the work of the Family and the Enterprise team and monitors Tameside`s Enterprise Strategy. The Board links into the Tameside Economic and Learning Partnership and ultimately to the Tameside Strategic Partnership, which means that the voice of the local business community can be heard.