Coventry: Hewlett-Packard to run £543K business support programme

MEA-1, the Geneva-based arm of Hewlett-Packard, has signed an agreement with Coventry University Enterprise (CUE) to run the first UK Micro Enterprise Acceleration Programme (HP-MAP). This initiative is supported by the European Social Fund, which has granted the project £543,000.

The HP-MAP scheme will provide small firms in the West Midlands with free training in a variety of core business skills such as finance, operations, technology management, marketing and communication, with the aim of improving micro-enterprise growth rate in the region.

Entrepreneurs and small business owners will benefit from access to e-commerce and ICT training at the CUE Design Hub’s solutions suite. Debra Mackay, Senior Project Manager at CUE, said: “Learning business skills such as contact management, cash flow analysis, print and electronic marketing, and website development, will help make a company more productive. It is a great privilege that Hewlett-Packard and MEA-I have chosen us to deliver the programme.”

Jelena Godjevac, Executive Director of MEA-I, emphasised on the importance of offering micro-enterprises specialist training. She said: “Working with a university gives you access to staff who are highly skilled and make excellent trainers. We know that our client, the entrepreneur, likes to be trained within a university on new technology, and CUE is the perfect partner for us.”

Gary Allden, Director of Hewlett-Packard Corperate Marketing in the UK and Ireland, said: “We have delivered a successful micro-enterprise business development programme all over the world and we are delighted to bring HP-MAP to Coventry University.” He added: “Business development means the creation of jobs and wealth, and we look forward to working with CUE to deliver a real impact in the region.”