MEH ERDF Enterprise Hub Start Up Support

Tender description

Enterprise Hub (EH) is a comprehensive entrepreneurship promotion and business support programme, which will foster the creation of new enterprises from pre start to early stage businesses. Providing assistance to 6360 potential-entrepreneurs and helping create 1272 new business ventures. The Enterprise Hub will reach and provide high quality business brokerage and business support services to a diverse customer profile e.g. graduate, female and BME would be entrepreneurs; resulting in the creation of high value SMEs and social businesses across all sectors and providing a simplified route for customers to access the support when and how they need it. The Enterprise Hub is a consortium of partner organisations of which Merseyside Expanding Horizons is one. We are seeking delivery sub–contractors to support the engagement of entrepreneurs to the programme and provide start –up enterprise support services. The target beneficiary group are people living in Merseyside who face a range of barriers to enterprise e.g. low confidence and self-esteem; unemployment, unstable or temporary employment; low educational qualifications; lone parent status; benefit dependency; ex offender status; lack of access to finance and networks; credit rationing; age; mental health issues or long term illness The complex nature of exclusion and discrimination that excluded groups face requires additional investment to equalise opportunity in starting their own business. We are seeking providers to engage with and develop initial entrepreneurial aspirations with people from the following demographic profiles in Liverpool City Region: • BME groups • Disabled people • Young people / NEET young people • Long term unemployed people • Lone parents • Women returners to the labour market • Older people • People in receipt of benefits • People with language, literacy or numeracy issues • Parents and carers • People living in deprived wards