University of Hertfordshire helps small businesses beat credit crunch

HAS your company run out of ideas when it comes to escaping the credit crunch?

Well fear not - help is at hand.

Tomorrow (Thursday), the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield is inviting regional businesses and entrepreneurs to Positive Actions, an event showcasing 101 ways in which the university can help during the recession.

As the country's leading business-facing university, the event will offer support, advice, training and personal development, as well as suggestions on starting your own business.

Julie Newlan, director of business partnerships at the university, said: "The idea of this event is to focus on two different groups that we believe have a lot in common.

"The first is small businesses; those very small companies that employ two, three or maybe five people, and who might not have access to a wide range of expertise that larger companies do.

"It is vital we support these businesses, because when you add them up, they are responsible for a huge level of employment.

"We will also be focussing on individuals, who might be interested in training, or re-training to consolidate their position at a company, or who are thinking about starting up their own business."

One company that will be attending is BM Metalworks, in West Burrowfield, WGC.

Spokesman Paul Hutson said: "I thought it would be a good event to get some ideas on how to promote ourselves.

"We've never really done any proactive marketing before, so we'll be interested to get some advice. We'll also be looking for some advice on credit management, given the difficult times we're in."

The event starts at 5pm at the Weston Auditorium on the de Havilland campus in Hatfield.

For full details of the event, go to www.go.herts.ac.uk/recession