Launched in 2021, Help to Grow: Management was part of a £520m UK Government initiative providing SMEs with access to “the latest management training” and “…the tools they need to innovate, grow and help drive the recovery from Covid.”
In 2022, following a competitive tender, Cogitamus was appointed by the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS) and the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to develop and deliver a UK-wide stakeholder engagement programme to help raise awareness of, and enrolment in, the Help to Grow: Management Course.
Utilising our strategic relationships in every region of England and the UK, we quickly assembled an experienced and geographically diverse team of 15 consultants to ground the project in local knowledge and regionalised engagement.
Phase 1 of the project comprised creation of the regionalised stakeholder databases, development of promotional materials and developing the protocols and processes for project management, stakeholder engagement and reporting.
Phase 2 comprised the initial three-month phase of the engagement programme, with an interim summary report and analysis helping to refine and target further engagement in Phase 3, which also included commencement of political engagement as a distinct strand of activity.
At the end of the initial contract, having met the agreed KPIs, the contract was extended by a further six months after which Cogitamus submitted a detailed report of the entire project and continued to work with CABS on follow-up engagement and the handover of a collated database of stakeholders and intelligence.
Crucial to the successful delivery of this assignment were: rapid mobilisation, project and team management, local and regional engagement, flexibility, tracking and recording information flow, and ongoing assessment and reporting.