New Ivory, a successful Elland based food manufacturing business has been given the opportunity to expand thanks to a grant of almost £10,000 from the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to train its staff, as it takes its next steps towards expansion.
New Ivory work with some of the leading supermarkets and retailers to develop and manufacture sauces, gravies and dressings with the aim to bring restaurant quality taste to home cooked food. They manufacture on an industrial scale as well as providing insight and advice to other businesses.
The company have experienced a period of growth over the past year and have ambitious plans to expand. They recognised the need to invest in its staffs’ capabilities and approached the LEP for support to train their existing staff. This resulted in a successful application for funding from the LEP to develop the leadership skills of its mid management team, thereby helping to shape the company’s strategy and define its culture.
In total, 10 staff undertook the training, which has enabled them to develop their personal and practical skills such as time management, presentation and organisational strategy. New Ivory have previously struggled with recruiting the right calibre of staff, in particular graduates to their manufacturing plant in Elland, and the training undertaken has also provided current staff with recruiting, interviewing skills and effective performance management, ensuring the company is able to continue its growth and invest in new current staff.
Adam Jones, Managing Director at New Ivory, said:
“The funding from the LEP has really motivated us to push our company even further, and we’re so excited about the doors that it’s going to open for us.
“We’re committed to investing in our teams, and always ensure that we have the best possible people available to drive our customers’ agendas. The training that we’re putting in place following the funding will help to not only improve our team’s skills, but create opportunities for promotion.
“As an ambitious company looking to expand further, funding from the LEP has really helped us to reach our goals.”
Stephanie Burras CBE, Chair of the LEP’s Employment and Skills Panel said:
“We’re delighted that New Ivory have benefitted from the LEP support meaning it can continue to reach its financial aims with funding from the skills service.
“As the programme continues, there will be an increased focus on encouraging accredited training and on supporting SMEs to create and implement longer-term training plans and I’m pleased to see New Ivory have undertaken a wide range of courses that will contribute to the growth of their business.
“The skills service has already approved funding for over 4,500 courses for employees across Leeds City Region and has been granted a 3 month extension which means that businesses can now submit funding applications until 31st March 2017, and training can be undertaken until 30th June 2017. I urge businesses to contact the LEP to find out how they can benefit.”
Through the LEP’s skills service businesses can apply for grants of between £500 and £50,000 to contribute towards their training. Applications are assessed on a case by case basis and eligible businesses can get support to upskill staff, attracting funding for up to 50% of training costs.
To find out if your business is eligible and to apply, please visit: www.the-lep.com/skillsservice(external link) or call 0113 386 1910.