Oxfordshire business landscape showing resilience says county's LEP

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Nicky Godding

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The Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (OxLEP) has said it is ready to support even more businesses following the launch of its latest campaign, aimed at backing organisations to develop their own ‘superheroes’ in business.

It follows a recent trend reported by OxLEP that suggests – despite access to finance being key to operations thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic – that organisations are more broadly prepared to seek out more holistic types of business support and advice.

OxLEP Business’ figures, published in its most recent impact report, show that despite the financial turbulence of Brexit, Covid-19 and increased levels of inflation, businesses biggest need is, in fact, not raising finance, which paints a promising picture of confidence and resilience.

The most frequently highlighted business needs by more than a factor of two, over ‘raising finance for growth’ were:

Growing customer base
Developing a business plan for growth
Improving communications and marketing
Upskilling staff and/or expanding workforce
Launching a new or different product to market

This bodes well for the future of region’s business community, which has more than 43,000 registered companies, 99 per cent of which are SMEs.

In fact, when businesses access OxLEP support through activities such as workshops, mentoring or networking, 15 per cent saw a 10 per cent or more uplift in annual growth, which further highlights the importance of support provisions.

In 2023, OxLEP Business saw the conclusion of two major business support initiatives, backed by the European Regional Development Fund investment –, Innovation Support for Business (ISfB) and eScalate.

Both provided Oxfordshire businesses with specialist advice, webinars, workshops and themed activity alongside grants and community support to boost productivity and efficiency.

During the lifetime of the programme, Innovation Support for Business worked with 780 businesses, totalling 4,500 hours of support, backed by £1.3 million-worth of grants that leveraged £1.7 million of private investment and almost 100 new jobs.

eScalate delivered 7,500 hours of support with 51% of businesses engaged led by women, or have boards with female majorities – way above the national average of 29%.

The update comes following the launch in November of Business Super League campaign – a campaign that encourages organisations to ‘dream big’ and ‘unlock their business superpowers’.

Nigel Tipple, Chief Executive of OxLEP, said: “Businesses have, in recent years, had to navigate some considerable challenges. Despite this, we are seeing great resilience in our local business community.

“Oxfordshire’s strong commercial and entrepreneurial culture and focus on innovation continues to favour businesses, who are now showing great steadfastness and continued desire for growth.

“We are pleased to be supporting organisations at every stage of their journey from setting up, to evolving services or going international, and will continue our work to support businesses reach their full potential.”

One such success is Fermtech, a start-up company formed in September 2022, by founder Andy Clayton – a biologist who has become an entrepreneur.

Fermtech uses a circular economy production system using products such as spent grains from breweries and unwanted potatoes to create animal-free protein that is sold into companies producing plant-based products (such as vegan cheese).

Fermtech received guidance and support from OxLEP Business at a critical time in their organisation’s journey. As a start-up, they were incredibly reliant on business support from external organisations such as OxLEP to help them get started on their journey.

From initially completing OxLEP’s business support tool, Fermtech’s directors were able to question their business decisions and objectives and assess upcoming challenges. This helped them to plan out their goals and think about their future strategy, and ultimately to become a better business.

Since receiving support Fermtech has been able to establish its first production site at a laboratory in Oxford and has spurred on the growth of the organisation which now employs 30 people.

OxLEP Business has helped thousands of Oxfordshire businesses like Fermtech, through expert advice, technical support, and access to funding.

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.