In celebration of International Women's Day on Friday 8 March, we talk to local entrepreneur, Ineke Nugteren, about her business journey. Ineke set up Nourish - grow, cook, enjoy from her kitchen table and has since gone on to grow her Nourish brand which is now stocked by the likes of Ocado and Abel & Cole. Hear about what motivates her and the lessons she has learnt along the way.

Wednesday 13 March 18.00 Horley Business Guild Evening Networking (Serendipity, High Street, Horley) Book now 

Wednesday 20 March 17.00 Redhill Business Guild (the Light, Redhill) Book now

Thursday 29 March 12.00-14.00 Learning Lunch Town Hall, Reigate - Inspiring Women, a great event celebrating the stories of inspirational women.  Book Now 

Tuesday 2 April 19.00-21.00 Neurodivergent-Friendly Networking (Town Hall, Reigate) Book now

Thursday 25 April 19.00-21.00 RH Networking (Horley Cricket Club) Book now

Thursday 16 May 12.00-14.00 Learning Lunch Town Hall, Reigate - What the hell do I say? Join marketing expert, Nicola Macdonald from Attractive Marketing, as she explores how to generate great content ideas when you mind goes blank. Book now.

Thursday 24 June 12.00-14.00 Learning Lunch Town Hall, Reigate - How to become a more effective leader and manage yourself!  Mary Asante, Maysante Book Now 

Thursday 25 July 12.00-14.00 Learning Lunch Town Hall, Reigate - The Art of Negotiation. with Joe Cheal Book Now

Thursday 26 Sept 12.00-14.00 Learning Lunch Town Hall, Reigate - How to improve your presentations and engage your audience, with Anna Randall from The Speaker’s Coach Book now.

Thursday 28 November 12.00-14.00 Learning Lunch Town Hall, Reigate  - Cyber security: How to protect your business, with Raquel Caldeira  from nTrust systems Book now.

Thursday 12 December 12.00-14.00 Learning Lunch Town Hall, Reigate  - Festive get together Book now.

The Grant has been created to support local small businesses who are looking to expand, enter new markets, become more environmentally sustainable, increase their efficiency or capacity, and follow their growth trajectory.

It is for small businesses of up to 49 employees who can demonstrate real growth.

The award is a ‘one off’ grant, intended to help small businesses grow by enabling them to gain new accredited skills or invest in new plant or premises that would lead to the recruitment of new staff, including apprentices. We will also look favourably on applications that reduce the environmental impact of your business and/ or your products.

The Council has allocated £100,000 to this initiative with individual awards available of up to £5,000 per business.

Are you a local entrepreneur aged 16-30? Do you have a great side hustle or are you currently selling online and would like the opportunity to meet your customers in person? If so, why not be part of Redhill's first ever Local heal of the National Market Traders Federation (NMTF)Young Traders Market on 22 June.  You will be trading alongside experienced regular market traders with plenty of opportunity to learn the ropes and meet your customers face-to-face. Your pitch will be provided free and you will also get a gazebo and insurance for the day. On the day itself, there is a chance for your stall to judged and to put forward to the regional heat which will be held on 14 July at Portobello Market. There is then the chance of progressing onto the National finals in Stratford-upon-Avon later in the year!

Limited places - apply for your stall now!

Funding support is available for businesses who were significantly flooded between 2 and 12 January 2024. Businesses could be eligible for 100% business rates relief for at least three months. Impacted small-to-medium sized businesses can apply for up to £2,500 from the Business Recovery Grant to help return quickly to business as usual. The qualifying criteria are listed below:

The business premises has been flooded in whole or in part internally as a result of Storm Henk. For example: internal areas which are critical to the day-to-day operations (i.e. not storage sheds or warehouses) have been damaged, necessitating drying out and/or repairs to the fabric of the building, occurring as a result of flooding.

• you are unable to trade for a period of time due to flood damage to your business premises.
• you can only make one claim per property affected.
• empty business premises do not qualify for this discount.

Applications close 20 March 2024

The work that the Council does, including our support for local businesses and our town and village centres, is guided by its Corporate Plan. We’ve started the process of reviewing and updating our plan for the next five years, and will be undertaking a consultation on its proposals later in the year.

If you have any ideas you'd like to feed in, colleagues from the Corporate Policy Team would love to hear from you: rbbc2025@reigate-banstead.gov.uk

Retrofit refers to the 'decarbonising' of existing properties and domestic properties account for around a third of our borough’s CO2 emissions so retrofitting is a growth sector. However, it’s a sector with a shortage of people with the relevant skills. For this reason, Surrey County Council is supporting some retrofit skills training opportunities which have been launched to support new entrants to the world of 'green jobs', and they are either free or subsidised. These include:

• Retrofit Academy - retrofit assessor and coordinator training.

Funded Retrofit Training and Qualifications - Apply now (retrofitacademy.org)

• A joint Surrey and Hampshire County Councils Skills Bootcamp training offer for retrofit assessments, retrofit coordinators and heat pump installers.

Skills Bootcamps - Surrey County Council (surreycc.gov.uk)

• Additional, there are fully-funded heat pump, insulation and energy efficiency courses being held in Surrey in March.

Learn how to sell your products to the world!

The UK Export Academy can support your business to grow by giving you the confidence and know-how to land your first, or next overseas deal.

Over 18,000 businesses across the UK have already joined the free training programme. It’s totally free and takes only a few minutes to get started.

Visit our Supporting Local Business web pages for the latest business updates.

Information about Council services can be found on our website.

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