RUBICON PROJECT

The Rubicon (Rural Business, Innovation and Re-construction) Project has been very successful in achieving its aim to provide subsidised training for small to medium sized businesses (SMEs) within Milton Keynes, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. In total, Rubicon has trained 1856 people, which is a 45% increase on the target of 1250 set by the LSC, for the period July 2002 – December 2003, the lifetime of the project. Evaluation Forms completed by delegates after completion of training confirm that Rubicon courses have been above average; with over 90% indicating that they found the courses to be very successful and of benefit to their business.

Simon Bradbury, Rubicon Project Manager said “The success of Rubicon has been due to continually researching the ever changing needs of small businesses and acting on this information to provide low cost training, by first class trainers – mostly SMEs themselves - in a friendly training environment and enabling delegates to network at these events to promote/conduct business with other small companies”.

Throughout the project, Rubicon endeavoured to cater for the specific and varied needs of SMEs and, consequently, the training provided by Rubicon was always demand led. Bespoke courses within set time frames were developed to cater for individual business needs, e.g. in order to encompass the specific training requirements of butchers, various courses were offered in conjunction with The Meat & Livestock Commission. Similarly, when companies indicated a need for first aid training a partnership was formed with the Safety Centre in Milton Keynes and, over the period of the project, a variety of First Aid and Health & Safety courses were successfully developed and introduced to cater for their individual needs.

After the first Marketing and Time Management workshops, delegates expressed interest in other areas of business, resulting in the development and introduction of a wide range of courses from Presentation Skills, Telesales, Selling Skills, Report and Letter Writing, Interview Skills and Debt Recovery to advanced level IT. A course which was particularly successful with businesses start-ups was ‘Meet the Taxman’ which was carried out by Inland Revenue staff. Another course, which was popular, covered the Licensing Reform Bill.

Rural business courses were also provided in such diverse areas as Tree Climbing, Fork Lift and Tractor Driving, Use of Mini Diggers, Welding, Safe Use of Ladders, Hedge Laying, Abrasive Wheels and Brush Cutters.

Simon Bradbury, Rubicon Project Manager, was very proud to receive the following message of support at the end of the project from Nigel Griffiths MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Small Business and Enterprise:

“Small Businesses often aren’t able to take advantage of training programmes for various reasons; cost, time or courses not designed with Small Businesses in Mind. The Rubicon Project has listened to these concerns and designed their training programmes around them, providing cost effective and tailored training for Small and Medium Enterprises. Through identifying the needs of SMEs and delivering effective and tailored training, Rubicon have made this crucial training available to SMEs throughout Milton Keynes, with great success.”