A free and comprehensive support service has been launched to help ambitious entrepreneurs set up and run successful new businesses in the Sheffield City Region.

Sheffield City Region Launchpad is a new fully inclusive and co-ordinated programme of start-up support which aims to help create hundreds of new businesses across the region over the next three years.

The £4 million programme is being delivered through the Sheffield City Region (SCR) Growth Hub, launched by the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership last month, and involves a consortium of the region’s local authorities, and the Princes Trust.

Through Launchpad people just starting to think about working for themselves and new business owners keen to grow their companies and create jobs can quickly access a wide range of new and existing business advice, workshops, seminars, one-to-one coaching and mentoring services.

SCR Launchpad programme manager Anna Smith said: “Launchpad has been set up to ensure that wherever entrepreneurs are based in our region, whether in the city of Sheffield, in our growing towns or in rural communities, everyone has equal access to the best quality business development support.

“Its aim is to ensure that no-one misses out on the support they need to help them set up and grow their business. Wherever they are based they can contact Launchpad and a start-up business advisor will talk through their business aims, discuss their needs and signpost them to the most appropriate support.”

Launchpad is being delivered through a collaboration of the region’s local authorities and business support organisations, led by Barnsley Council’s business support arm, Enterprising Barnsley.

Developed and delivered under the SCR Growth Hub banner, Launchpad brings together the wide range of start-up support services provided by these partners and combines them with new services being provided through the Sheffield City Region Growth Hub.

The initiative is backed financially by the Sheffield City Region Combined Authority and has attracted £2,359,613 investment from the European Regional Development Fund as part of the Europe Union’s support for the region’s economic development.

Chair of the Sheffield City Region European Structural Investment Funds Sub-Committee James Newman said: “Through unprecedented collaboration across the Sheffield City Region’s local authorities and business community we have co-ordinated all our efforts to identify and support pre-start and early stage businesses with growth potential.

“Our ultimate aim is to increase economic growth and create jobs through fostering the development of new businesses across the whole region. The simple message is that if you want to set up and grow a business in the City Region you should contact Launchpad and its team of advisors can help you access a region-wide network of support.

“This is exactly the type of programme that European funding should be supporting and we expect Launchpad to become the definitive springboard for successful business start-ups in the Sheffield City Region.”

Launchpad is open to new businesses in Barnsley, Bassetlaw, Bolsover, Chesterfield, Derbyshire Dales, Doncaster and North East Derbyshire, Rotherham and Sheffield and offers entrepreneurs anything from access to free workshops and events to one-to-one mentoring from successful entrepreneurs and business owners. The Princes Trust will provide business support to 18-30-year-olds across South Yorkshire.

Entrepreneurs and new business owners can contact Launchpad through the SCR Growth Hub gateway on 03330 00 00 39 or growthhub@sheffieldcityregion.org.uk  Visit www.scrgrowthhub.co.uk to find out more.

The Sheffield City Region (SCR) Growth Hub, through which Launchpad has been developed, is designed to be a single point of contact for all businesses across the nine local authority areas. It was launched by the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership last month.

The overall ambition of the Sheffield City Region LEP is to help create 6,000 new businesses and 70,000 new jobs by 2025, by encouraging innovation, investment and collaboration.

Similar Launchpad start-up support programmes have been established by LEPs through their Growth Hubs in other city regions across the UK.

Brampton Brewery in Chesterfield has brewed two special beers for the EU referendum.

Chris Radford, Brampton Brewery said: “There generally seems to be a lack of any real facts available to support either camp – I believe people are engaged with the idea of the referendum, maybe more so than some other elections, but deciding quite which way to vote seems to be proving a difficult decision for many people with the lack of “real” information.”

“We came up with the idea of brewing a beer to represent each camp.  The only stipulation was that both beers had to be the same strength – 4.4%.  We’ve then left it to two of our brewers to come up with a recipe reflecting each side of the debate. ”

The two beers Brampton Brewery have created are “Brexit” which is quintessentially a British bitter – using only home-grown ingredients from North Yorkshire malt varieties to a range of hops grown in the hop fields of Hereford, Worcestershire and Kent.  Finally the yeast strain originated from a traditional British regional family brewer.   “Stronger In”  is thoroughly influenced by Europe – continental malts, a wide range of hops grown across Europe and a yeast strain more suited to a continental-style lager than a British ale.

Brampton Brewery will be encouraging pubs to take a cask of each beer and to hold their own vote and feed them in to the brewer’s own poll on the run up to the referendum.

Cathelco’s desalination division is continuing to win orders worldwide in the commercial and military sectors for their range of space saving watermakers.

One of the latest orders has come from Norwegian based Havyard Ship Technology who are building a Hvyard 832 SOV wind turbine service vessel for the Danish shipping company ESVAGT. It will be used to service the Dudgeon wind farm operated by Statoil off the coast of Norfolk in the UK.
Cathelco are supplying Havyard with a T30 desalinator which has the capacity to produce up to 30 tonnes of fresh water per day for a full range of washing and cleaning requirements. The units provide a high output for their size and are ideal for installation where space is limited, whilst allowing good access for routine maintenance.

Another order has come from Reederei Nord, the Dutch ship managers who have purchased desalinators for two oil/chemical tankers, the Nord Isle (12,810 dwt) built in 2009 and a sister ship Nord Ocean which entered service a year later.

Both vessels will be installed with Cathelco H2016 desalinators which can produce up to 6.5 tonnes of potable water per day. Compactly designed, the units are ideal for retrofitting and have diagnostic systems to continually monitor the quality of the water.

In Australia, defence prime contractors Austal are building a further two Cape Class Patrol vessels. The 58 metre ships under construction for the Australian Commonwealth are each being installed with two Cathelco H2012 desalinators. These will provide 10 tonnes of fresh water daily for up to 18 crew members on the vessels which have a top speed of 26 knots and a range of 4,000 nautical miles.

For the first time, Cathelco have supplied desalinators to the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command. These have been installed on the MV Capt David.I.Lyon, a container ship which supports US Air Force missions and the MV LTC John U.D Page which provides ocean transport to sustain U.S. Army operations.

The ships are being equipped with Cathelco T35 desalinators which can produce up to 35 tonnes of freshwater per day for a wide range of domestic uses.

One of the most distinctive vessels in the history of Remontowa Shipbuilding will be installed with two Cathelco desalinators. This is the El-Mellah, a three masted frigate which is being built as a sail training vessel for Algerian Navy cadets. With a length of 110 metres and a main mast 54 metres high the ship can accommodate more than 200 people.

In addition to providing two desalinators, each with the capacity of producing 16 tonnes of freshwater per day, Cathelco is supplying an impressed current cathodic protection (ICCP) system to safeguard the steel hull against corrosion.

“Cathelco offers a portfolio of products to the marine industry and we are delighted to have supplied two types of systems for this very impressive vessel”, said Chris Bell, general manager of the company’s desalination division.

Cathelco desalinators are now exported throughout the world, a growth in sales that has benefitted from the ability to create packages of equipment that can include marine growth prevention systems, ICCP hull corrosion protection and ballast water treatment systems. The division stems from the acquisition of Seafresh Desalinators in 2010 and has flourished as the result of product development.

In 2015, the scope of Cathelco’s activities in the desalinator market were strengthened and extended by the acquisition of HEM, the well known manufacturers of water treatment systems for the luxury yacht market, based in the South of France.