The Cornish marine industry is set to benefit from a new £771,682 project aimed at helping small and medium marine businesses become more competitive and address issues preventing their growth.
An initiative launched by Cornwall Marine Network called Propel Cornwall will be holding a series of information sessions around Cornwall over the next few weeks, so businesses can come along to see how the project will be able to benefit them.
The project will give mentoring and grant support to marine businesses in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly to improve areas of their business activity, according to Propel Cornwall.
The supported activities may include measuring and improving productivity, implementing new systems and products, improving marketing and digital knowledge and insights, increasing quality, improving supplier management, managing change, growing outputs and increasing staff and skills.
Sam Winters , Marine Innovation Mentor with Propel Cornwall, said: “We will work closely with owner managers to identify which area(s) of their business are priority for improvement, then use our expertise to help them find solutions. If we need to purchase specialist help there is grant support available. This is an exciting new opportunity to help our marine businesses grow.”
There are more than 700 small and medium sized marine businesses in Cornwall who employ more than 10,000 people, generating £345 million to the GDP of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Propel Cornwall said.
Cornwall Marine Network is a non-profit membership organisation working with Cornwall’s marine industry and helping the marine sector grow through specialist business support.