In ‘phase 4’ of our hub development model (see ‘About us’), our main aim is to encourage local entrepreneurship.  The aim here is to establish a close-knit community of local entrepreneurs and start-ups who support each other in their growth towards success, thus improving economic activity in the region and remedying the acute employment deficit.

Using ‘SMART’ entrepreneurship, by setting Specific, Measurable, Acceptable, Realistic and Time-bound (=SMART!) goals, our entrepreneurs can create a roadmap for their business that aligns with their overall vision and strategy. This approach ensures that the goals are well defined, can be monitored and evaluated, and are within the entrepreneur’s ability to achieve them.  It enables our entrepreneurs to make data-driven decisions, allocate resources effectively and adjust their marketing strategy where necessary to drive the success of their new venture.  On the basis of a self-created and ‘web’-accessible demand dossier, we try to get to know the activities, market and needs of our local entrepreneurs from the outset and to organise on this basis the necessary support such as project management, logistical planning (use of spreadsheets or ERP systems), marketing, accounting, corporate financing, legal and tax matters.

In addition, aided by this information, training for entrepreneurs, often in collaboration with already existing partner training centres but also organised in our own learning hubs, ensures that they can fill in the gaps to make a confident start.  In these digital, maker and field labs, they can learn a range of theoretical and practical skills (STEAM) and with a focus on their specific ‘smart industry’ profession.