Local Shops for Local People - Full of Special Things

Christmas is getting ever closer. Crikey! Where’s that credit card. And if the weather reports are to be believed we are heading for a cold snap to boot! A tenner says the only ‘snowflake’ we see on Christmas day is the neighbour’s cat, sleeping in-front of the fire after pinching the turkey!

The Christmas period is tough for some businesses, but the retail sector is in full swing tempting us ‘happy’ shoppers into their stores to part with the year’s hard earned cash. The Sedgefield borough has a wealth of shops catering for all sorts of shopping needs. The temptation is to join the masses on the A1 and head to the region’s own Nirvana’esq retail-shop-fest that is the Metro Centre, but my thought to you aforementioned ‘happy’ shoppers this Christmas is to look at what’s on our doorstep before we brave the marble corridors and fun packed car-parks of shopping facilities further north.

The retail businesses of our area have loads to offer and can provide a personal and friendly service that just might get you and the family in the Christmas spirit. And have you coming back in the New Year to support our local economy.

By spending in the shops, pubs, butchers, green grocers, garden centres and the anything in-betweens we are supporting local people and keeping our £’s in our local economy. Did you know that if you spend one quid in a large multinational supermarket only 20p stays in the local economy? If you spend that same quid with a local retailer nearly £1.20 is retained. And it will re-circulate up to five times! Food for thought, just a taster to get you warmed up for the annual eating-contest that are the Christmas holidays.

I’m sure we will all be trudging off to some shrine of consumerism at some point though, and the wonderful world of internet shopping will save us from some of the pain, but I for one will be making an effort to use the shops on my doorstep where I can. Let’s support our local businesses and the people in them, as I for one, would miss them if they were gone.

New Look Site on the Way

The SASDA website will soon be getting a new look to coincide with our brand spanking new brand and logo. The changes will be purely cosmetic, although we will be adding some new sections which should provide some interesting content.
One of the more detailed additions will be the creation of a “SASDA Business Donut” which can be accessed from our main site.
The Business Donut provides a range of small business information including Law, Marketing and Start Up sections. The information is free to users of the SASDA site and can be viewed through RSS Feeds for all those interested in getting the news delivered straight to your Outlook, Web Browser or other Desk Top software.

Following on from our 25th birthday celebrations on the 10th November, the website will also have some interesting features which look back at SASDA’s work over the last quarter of a century. Supporting people in businesses has always been the ethos of the organisation and the microsite will take a look at some contracts, projects and clients that have made up the agencies work for 25 years.
The new look site will be live for December and the 25 Years – Supporting People in Business micro site will run through to the festive season and into the New Year.

Manufacturing & HR Specialist Paul Hetherington Update

Just a quick update on how things are going. It’s now almost two months since we launched the WNF. Things are really taking shape and I have already met some fantastic people. The skills, spirit and warmth of our local business people is amazing. As is the ingenuity and resilience being shown in the face of the current economic turmoil. I have placed my first few people into work and am looking forward to working with them over the coming months to sustain employment and encourage further growth. I can’t recall a more rewarding experience in my professional life.

Follow the blog for updates on the project and the WNF team’s experience in the field.

The Working Neighbourhoods Fund - One Month In

Delivering the Working Neighbourhoods Fund for SASDA has been a great challenge in these first few weeks.

As the Marketing specialist I have been tasked with getting the WNF message out there in the business community. Telling businesses in Sedgefield Borough (or what once was Sedgefield Borough in these days of our unitary council) that we are here to provide employer engagement.

So what on earth is employer engagement? I hear you cry! Well I've been asking myself that too.

Where we have settled is that the WNF is about giving businesses a boost. The full WNF team is here to provide the advice and support loads of small businesses need. We can talk through our specialist areas and see if we can help their business. Be that through growth, expansion, consolidation or diversification. All these "Managementisms", for us, basically means that we need to help businesses identify job opportunities. Hard times to create employment I know, but that’s our task. Once identified we need to work with businesses to get them into a position where they can actually create that new job. Taking someone from the Sedgefield district off benefits and getting them back into work and giving the business all they need to make it happen. The offer of financial help is there too. If the job creation lasts 6 months the company will be awarded a fund which they can use in their business.

We can lend a hand when times are hard too. If a firm is facing the possibility of making staff redundant we can offer the kind of support only available to larger organisations. The support is still on offer as well, and if we can safeguard some of those 'in-danger' jobs then we'll be proud of our achievement. Me and the team are out in the business community now and are getting loads of positive experiences to give us confidence.

If you feel we might be able to help your business, just call us and we can see what we can do.

Check back for updates on how we are getting on.

Steven Robson - Marketing Specialist Business Advisor

SFEDI

Our new award to achieve excellence in Business Support.