TBF Enterprise Team
The Tameside Business Family has a team with a wide range of skills and experience. They can help you develop your business from a germ of an idea onwards - as far as you want to take it. Read the information below and decide who is best suited for your needs or telephone us on 0161 342 2058 for further advice.
Phil Cowper – Enterprise Team Leader
Phil Cowper is the Enterprise Team leader. Phil has been involved in Business Outreach for Tameside Council for over 8 years. Born and educated in Tameside and currently living in Stalybridge he brings extensive business and management experience at Director and Board level from both Industry and Commerce.
A highly enthusiastic, personable, committed and versatile individual with wide experience in general management, business planning, project planning, administration, business finance, sales and marketing. Phil is a first class communicator with sound commercial acumen and a hands-on approach to making things happen. He has a wealth of local business networking contacts, is SFEDI qualified and is a Fellow of the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management.
Phil is currently a Board member of Tameside College, Tameside Sports Trust and Stalybridge Celtic FC He is also Company Secretary of the Tame Valley Regeneration Consortium Ltd which is the governance body for the Tameside Business Family.
Tel: 07773 365871
Email: phil.cowper@tameside.gov.uk
Tracy Eyres – Business Customer Relationship Manager
Tracy Eyres has worked for Tameside MBC for 16years. She started working in the Poll Tax department undertaking billing and making arrangements with people to pay their Tax. She then moved to financial administration. For the last ten years Tracy has been working within the Economic Development Unit with both new and existing businesses to help them access business support services both through the local authority as well as partnership organisations.
Currently she is helping existing businesses with marketing, business planning, access to finance, property searches along with various Council services such as planning, estates etc. In recent times she has worked on various ERDF projects to help businesses grow and expand.
Tracy obtained a Distinction in her HND in business and finance and is SFEDI qualified.
Tel: 07810 648118
Email: tracy.eyres@tameside.gov.uk
Neil Gratrix – Community Economic Development Officer
Neil Gratrix provides help, advice and support to potential and existing Social Enterprises.
Neil worked for 25 years in the catering/food industry starting out as a trainee chef working at large hotels and restaurants in Manchester, Blackpool and France eventually becoming a Catering/Retail Food Manager responsible for managing all aspects of various catering and retail food operations including Sales, Expense/Stock Control, Purchasing and Net Profits.
For the last 17 years Neil has worked in the Economic Development Unit working as a Community Economic Development Officer helping to support and develop Community Enterprises such as Credit Unions (Financial Co-operatives), Co-operatives (Businesses owned and controlled by the people who work in them) and Social Enterprises (Democratic businesses with a social aim of benefiting the local and wider community).
Tel: 0161 342
Email: neil.gratrix@tameside.gov.uk
Roy Haslam – Business Customer Relationship Manager
Roy Haslam is a Business Customer Relationship Manager, providing independent qualified advice and professional services accredited by Technology Means Business Standard, the industry standard for ICT advice. He works part-time for the Tameside Business Support Team providing ICT and general business advice and guidance to the SME’s of Tameside.
Roy himself spent 30 years working for ICL/Fujitsu in the early years as an engineer and later within the sales and marketing divisions. He left ICL in December 2000 since when he has delivered ICT services to over 400 SMEs of varying sizes within the Greater Manchester area. This has not only been through his own business, Roy Haslam IT Services Ltd which provides hardware, software and networking services/solutions along with infrastructure cabling and wireless application advice. Over the last 4 years, he has also been advising on behalf of Tameside MBC under varying ERDF projects providing ICT, Internet, Website, DDA and general business start up advice & guidance.
Roy has worked across a range of departments within the Local Government sector. eg Tameside MBC IT Department, Bolton MBC Education Department, Manchester CC Education Department, and Lancashire County Council IT Department providing advice, guidance and assistance with wireless connectivity, data infrastructure, and networking services, along with ICT tendering, and Best value documentation and information.
Tel: 0161 342 2515
Email: roy.haslam@tameside.gov.uk
Deena Kearney – Enterprise Outreach Officer
Since joining the team, Dee has been working towards making strong links with potential Tameside Business Family partners that can promote and develop awareness of the services on offer to their members, clients and surrounding community.
She currently aims to encourage and develop new business entrepreneurs and start ups within the Tameside Borough. Deena is particularly interested in young people, returners to work after childcare and people who would like to come off benefits.
Deena offers an approachable and informal service where people are welcome to seek advice and be directed to relevant support and potential access to grant funding to aid them to a successful business start up or development.
Tel: 0161 342 3641 mobile 07814 731874
Email : deena.kearney@tameside.gov.uk
Jane Michael – Business Customer Relationship Manager 
Jane worked for 27 years for NatWest where she was branch manager at Mossley and Stalybridge for last 8 years. This involved dealing with SMEs of all types and within many different sectors. In her career Jane also undertook a period on Internal Audit for the bank and also had two years on secondment with the Equal Opportunities Commission in Manchester. Here she headed up the Equality Exchange which facilitated the sharing of Equal Opportunities knowledge between businesses.
She has been a Business/ICT Advisor for Tameside MBC for the last eight years, advising local SMEs on the benefits of the internet and websites with a view to improving business competitiveness. Currently working three days a week, Jane is now a Business Customer Relationship Manager continuing to provide independent advice but covering the broader area of general business as well as IT advice. She has full Technology Means Business accreditation, the Industry Standard for IT advice.
From 2000-2005 she was the Treasurer of the Open University Geological Society which has nearly 2400 members. This was like running a small business with a turnover of around £50,000 pa and a board of directors! So she understands the stresses of running a business and trying to be all things to all people! In 2007 Jane was treasurer for a three day symposium for OUGS: turnover over £50,000 with 300 residential delegates. It made a 'surplus' but even so Jane knows about the problems of budgeting!
Since April she have been undertaking general business advice for Customer Wise, an European Regional Development Fund project run by CallNorthWest/University of Central Lancashire with a particular slant on customer service and using new technology. She also runs her own business, JAM Business Services, which offers ICT advice and guidance together with other admin services.
Tel: 07968 367517
Email: jane.michael@tameside.gov.uk
Kaushika Mistry – Enterprise Broker
Kaushika Mistry has been working for Tameside MBC since 2003. Before this she worked for five years at Tiscali Business Services UK Ltd as a Business to Business Sales Consultant selling telecoms and internet solutions to businesses throughout the UK. She joined Tameside MBC as Social Enterprise Support and Development Project Officer helping community groups throughout Tameside to start up Social Businesses. After three years Kaushika was then given the opportunity to manage a one year European Project in 2006. This was the Social Enterprise Support and Development Project for Transitional Wards. She qualified as a Business Advisor (NVQ level 4 – SFEDI Standards) while work on this project. All the targets for the project were successfully achieved by completion in December 2006.
In 2007 Kaushika applied for the position of Economic Development Officer Business Start-up. She is currently supporting people starting up both Social Enterprises and Private businesses in Tameside. Amongst other services, she provides assistance with business planning, signposting the businesses to other organisations to ensure they get the best available support. Kaushika enjoys her job as “it gives me great pleasure to see the success of the businesses I assist in starting up”.
Email: kaushika.mistry@tameside.gov.uk
Richard Nash – Enterprise Broker
Richard Nash joined Tameside MBC in November. In his role as Enterprise Broker he will be supporting and developing existing businesses within the borough, and promoting the initiatives available from the Tameside Business Family.
Richard has been involved in Tameside with businesses for over 20 years, with consultancy, training & property development companies. He was responsible for Enterprise Delivery across Manchester & Tameside 1985-1995 and a Manchester Business Link Director (1993-1997). He set up the Enterprise Agency Manchester Business Consortium in 1987. He designed and delivered “Enterprise Allowance Awareness Days”, followed by “Business Enterprise Programme” training, although more recently his focus has been e-business & e-learning. In this respect Richard has been delivering e-business development programmes and Selling on the Web events across Greater Manchester including Tameside, working closely with Manchester Digital Development Agency , MANCAT and all Local Authority regeneration teams.
Richard is on the Council of Manchester Digital Trade Association, with particular interests in the education group. He considers ‘e’ as the new industrial revolution, providing new opportunities for e-business and e-learning. He is particularly enthusiastic about the opportunities multimedia technology can provide for young people.
Tel: 07887 868889
Email: richard.nash@tameside.gov.uk
Matt Postlethwaite – Economic Development Assistant
Matt has been employed at Tameside Council since 2006, he has recently joined the Tameside Business Family Enterprise Team and is responsible for a wide-range of administrative roles, including assisting the co-ordination of the Building Schools for the Future support and publicity programme. He is also the main initial point of contact for business enquiries by phone and email.
Matt previously worked on the Ashton Regeneration Project from 2006-8, on the Business Support & Learning Network along with Bill Wilson. Matt’s role was co-ordinating the provision of business support services to micro-businesses in the Regeneration Area, including working directly with businesses, responding to queries from businesses, helping to enhance the IT skills of business owners, managing a network of external consultants as well as administrative roles of managing project finances and submitting claims to external funding bodies.
Matt is qualified as an Accounting Technician to Advanced Certification level.
Tel: 0161 342 2058
Email: matt.postlethwaite@tameside.gov.uk
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Bill Wilson – Business Adviser
Bill Wilson has worked as a business adviser with TMBC since 2002
He has been previously self employed for 30 years and has operated a number of SME businesses and has enjoyed the ups and downs of business life. This mainly involved in the mechanical services sector with a distribution and marketing company.
Bill moved into the business support field fifteen years ago working with agencies across Greater Manchester and national research programmes. He was a key player in the Salford Small Business Initiative in partnership with the Salford University Neo project. Most recently Bill managed the Business Support and Learning Network in Ashton-under-Lyne as part of Tameside Council’s Ashton Regeneration Project.
Bill has an especial interest in Social Enterprise development and has been involved in this area for the last 14 years. Bill has met the SFEDI standards for business advice and was the first adviser in the country to meet the associated Social Enterprise, and has subsequently achieved NVQ level 4 for Business Advice.
Bill is involved in a diverse range of enterprises outside of the Council, he is currently managing partner in Wilson and Phillips Photography and a director of a family owned H&V company. He is also Co. Secretary of Enterprise Alliance North West, a director of local-Social Enterprise North West Interpreters Ltd, a trustee and treasurer of Hyde Community Action and is Chief Adviser and a sponsor for the Optimists, a charity working with young and needy people of Bangladesh.
Tel: 0789 491405
Email: bill.wilson@tameside.gov.uk
