The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has imposed severe challenges and pressures, driving a need to change for many businesses, the majority of which are small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

To support and assist business owners navigate these challenges and to ensure they are as ready as possible to get ‘Back to Business’, Essex County Council has commissioned Let’s Do Business Group to deliver a specialist business advice and mentoring service directly to and in support of SME businesses across Essex.

The ‘Back To Business’ programme provides SMEs with up to 12 hours of fully funded advice and guidance on key areas of focus for business owners including:

• Finance and Risk (evaluating and identifying the potential funding, finance andcashflow solutions available, innovation funding mechanisms, tax credits and assessment of financial risk factors)
• CustomersandMarketing (helping retain and increase customer connectivity, developing marketing strategies, identifying and accessing new customers, the value of PR, digital marketing tools and solutions)
• Supply Chains (the importance of effective and efficient supply chains, supply chain management, logistics, distribution and technology solutions)
• Workplace Operationsand Digital Transformation (reviewing future operational requirements and physical workplace environments, virtual or digitally based opportunities and solutions)
• People (the importance of human capital and skills matched to the ambitions of businesses, HR and recruitment)

Further details of the support available from ‘Back to Business’ together with contact details can be found at https://www.backtobusinessessex.co.uk/

Please register your details on the website or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and one of our specialist advisors will contact you within 48 hours, alternatively call our freephone number on 0800 970 8981 to speak to a member of the team directly.

Hi to you all, 

We are looking to put together a piece on hospitality businesses reopening on Jul 4.

We want to put together a list of places that are reopening on our patch (Epping Forest district - Epping/Loughton/Chigwell/Buckhurst Hill/Harlow etc) and would like to talk to the owners on how they have fared during lockdown, what measure they have implemented for reopening and so forth.

If any business owners who would be willing to share their story with us, we would very much like to speak with them.

We hope this story will help raise awareness of where people can go and the measures in place to keep them safe when doing so.

Please get back to me at your earliest convenience.

Many thanks,

Lewis Berrill 

I am a reporter for the Epping Guardian and Harlow Guardian.

Mobile:  07919 045042  

Twitter: @LewisBerrill

“The Government must ensure its engagement with business over the coronavirus recovery."

That’s the message from Chambers of Commerce across the Country are as business secretary Alok Sharma prepares to launch five new business-focused groups as part of the plans to kickstart the economy.

• The future of industry: How to accelerate business innovation and leverage private sector investment in research and development
• Green recovery: How to capture economic growth opportunities from the shift to net zero carbon emissions
• Backing new businesses: How to make the UK the best place in the world to start and scale a business
• Increasing opportunity: How to level up economic performance across the UK, including through skills and apprenticeships
• The UK open for business: How to win and retain more high value investment for the UK

The groups will form part of the Government’s plans for restarting the economy, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly set to unveil them with a major speech next month.

Mr Sharma will this week chair the first meetings of new ‘recovery roundtables’, bringing together businesses, business representative groups and leading academics.

Harlow & District Chamber of Commerce is also encouraging its members to let us know about the measures that would best support them to restart, recover and grow.

It is essential that the Government works in genuine partnership with businesses in order to support a return to economic growth.

There is no denying the significant impact that this pandemic has had on the business community with Harlow being as just as impacted as other towns UK wide.  What this period of disruption and change does give us is an opportunity to do things differently and radically rethink the way in which the Government engages with and enables good business growth in the UK.

We will continue to deliver a strong Harlow business voice for our members.

Please send all feedback to  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Could you present a virtual session with

Harlow

&

District Chamber of Commerce?

uk-economic-outlook-june-2020-fnal.pdf

During the ‘Dot-com’ bubble burst of the early 2000’s, more than half of all digital start-ups collapsed and during the height of that recession 51 companies a day were closing in the UK, with around 27,000 by the end of 2009. (source: The Independent).  It feels inevitable that we will enter a recession (two successive quarters of economic downturn) following this unprecedented global pandemic. 

Most businesses will suffer in a recession, usually because demand reduces and uncertainty increases. Experts are talking about this being like no other similar economic situation witnessed, there have been no oil price increases, financial panics, and most governments have moved to implement unprecedented measures to assist companies to ‘hunker down’ and weather it out as best possible. 

But whilst it is unlike previous downturns, there are certainly some lessons that can be learnt and there is plenty of evidence to support how you might weather this storm and come out of it in a relatively strong position ready to build again. 

During the recession of the 1980’s, 1990’s and 2000’s, 17% of companies studied either went bankrupt or were acquired (source: RBH article). The same study found that 9% of companies came out of the recession and flourished and by that they mean outperforming their competitors by around 10%.

Other more recent studies by Bains and McKinsey show that the number one factor on hitting the ground running is preparation. Having a plan of what to do and thrashing out multiple “what if” scenarios – involving your leadership team and getting them focused on problem solving each scenario, documenting it and then moving onto another and so on.

Many companies are going into ‘survival mode’ right now across multiple sectors but whilst in this mode, care needs to be taken of reacting too defensively. If you cut too far you can hinder all chances of a longer term recovery.

https://www.prodo.com

Please remember your Chamber - HDCC is here to help you and your business navigate through these unchartered times. If you would like a Zoom call please get in touch with us.

Where local business, public sector, education and voluntary communities come together for mutual benefit

A great opportunity to increase awareness of your organisation and find out what's happening in Harlow.

Get to know and understand local businesses.

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Annual subscription price is dependent on employee numbers and can be as little as £73 per annum.

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