If you think that all is doom and gloom on the jobs market, take heart from Colbea, Colchester’s business advice centre, which has helped 73 new businesses start trading over the past two years.
Colbea provides business advice and training to new and existing businesses in the Colchester and Tendring areas. Over the two years ending April 2009, the business advisors and trainers at Colbea provided 2,673 services to clients, many of whom approached Colbea direct but some of whom were channelled to the Agency via the Job Centre New Deal initiative. Of these, the vast majority of services (over 2,000) were provided to clients who were thinking about setting up their own business.
Although the country is now coming out of recession, the expectation is for employment figures to remain high for some time to come. The work Colbea does in helping to stimulate, support and encourage the small business entrepreneur is vital to the life of the local economy. The current year to date (figures quoted are from April to December 2009, inclusive) shows that 1,229 advice and training services have been provided, together with business planning training to address skills gaps for a further 164 clients.
Colbea operates from the Colchester Business Centre, which provides 36 ‘easy in easy out’ office units in a true business incubation environment. Since the centre was commissioned in December 2001, the average unit occupancy has remained over 90%. A total of 105 businesses have been, or currently are, tenants and during this time, just 15% of these have ceased trading – far lower than the regional 40% failure rate identified by the East of England Regional Development Agency in 2003. Over the past two years 18 businesses have moved into the Colchester Business Centre, bringing 34 new jobs to the Colchester Borough.
To find out more about business advice services or office space at the Business Centre, contact Colbea on 01206 548833 or click here.
