GO FORTH AND STEP LAUNCH BUSINESS CLINICS IN STIRLING CITY CENTRE

Go Forth Stirling and STEP have joined forces to launch business advice clinics in the city centre.

The collaboration aims to give current business owners – or people looking to start a business – the chance to ask questions and get help and tailored support.

The clinics will be held once a month with the next session taking place on Wednesday October 23 at the Codebase headquarters in Corn Exchange Road.

They will be attended by STEP’s City Centre Business Adviser Simon Orr and either Go Forth Stirling BID’s Project Director Danielle McRorie-Smith or Communications and Partnership Manager Jitka Fleglova.

Ms McRorie-Smith said: “We’re pleased to pool our expertise with STEP to provide an opportunity for the business community – or individuals looking to start a business – to come along and chat to myself, Simon or Jitka and gain advice and support on any aspect of their business journey.

“We’re looking forward to hearing from business owners and going forward, we also plan to conduct regular seminars with specific themes such as marketing, HR, finance and so on and to schedule guest speakers on topics which would be beneficial to our businesses.

“It’s all about working together to support city centre businesses and helping them achieve their goals.”

Simon said: “We are delighted to be working together with Go Forth Stirling and Codebase Stirling to support city centre businesses through our ‘Meet the Adviser’ sessions.

“City centre businesses make up an impressive 53% of all businesses in the Stirlingshire area, and by providing these sessions in partnership, we’re ensuring they have direct access to the guidance and resources they need to succeed.

“STEP is committed to driving growth and innovation and these sessions, delivered as part of the Business Gateway contract, are vital to our ongoing efforts to empower Stirling’s entrepreneurs.”

The clinics will take place once a month from 9.15am until midday with participants able to book an hour-long one-to-one session with an adviser.

Booking will be through Eventbrite and the October and November sessions are now available to book via – www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/meet-our-expert-business-adviser-stirling-city-centre-tickets-1027961088287

STEP is a business support organisation which has been working with companies in the Forth Valley area for more than 40 years combining commercial services with funded programmes, property, venue hire and in-house facilities.

For more information go to www.stepscotland.co.uk

Go Forth Stirling is the city’s Business Improvement District (BID) which represents more than 600 business owners with a key objective of increasing visitors to the city and devising initiatives to help make it a more welcoming destination for businesses and shoppers.

For more information, visit www.goforthstirling.co.uk

Written by

Rachel Blackburn

Based in Stirling, Rachel specialises in working with small and medium-sized companies across Central Scotland to raise their profile through targeted media relations. She finds the newsworthy stories every business has to tell and delivers them to the right audience in a straightforward and cost-effective manner. Rachel worked as a newspaper reporter and in various roles, including feature writer, Los Angeles correspondent and Scottish News Editor, for wire service The Press Association before founding Blackburn Communications in 2012. She works on a one-to-one basis with clients getting to know their business and finding the best outlets to share their news with current and potential customers, staff and stakeholders. It is very much a personal and flexible service tailored to their needs and budget. Rachel, a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and Forth Valley Chamber of Commerce, also offers bespoke writing services for firms including help with business awards application forms and copywriting for Blogs.