Leader of Stevenage Borough Council, Cllr Richard Henry, celebrates Wenta’s 40th Anniversary in support of local Stevenage businesses
Not-for-profit, social enterprise, Wenta, together with the Leader of Stevenage Borough Council, Cllr Richard Henry, and other local Stevenage stakeholders have recently attended Wenta’s 40th Anniversary celebrations at The House of Commons, in support of the Stevenage business community.
Wenta, one of the largest enterprise agencies in England, has managed The Business and Technology Centre (btc) on Bessemer Drive on behalf of Stevenage Borough Council since 2009, providing vital free business advice, skills training and affordable workspace, meeting rooms and virtual services.
During this time, Stevenage Borough Council’s partnership with Wenta has created a trusted, local hub of support for Stevenage residents and businesses. The partnership has enabled 2741 residents to be upskilled or trained in business skills and 466 new businesses to start up, creating 67.9 million pounds of GVA from jobs created and new start-up businesses.
As part of Wenta’s 40th celebrations, the event also saw the launch of Wenta’s first business research paper, ‘Action Zero: The Wenta Experience of guiding small firms on their net zero journey’, a partnership between The Enterprise Research Centre (ERC) and Wenta. One year on since launching ‘Action Zero’ in Stevenage, the revolutionary initiative to help as many businesses as possible to reduce their carbon footprint has so far helped 113 local business owners to begin their net zero journey.
Leader of Stevenage Borough Council, Cllr Richard Henry, said:
“Stevenage Borough Council and Wenta are continuing to work together on helping as many local business owners as possible to reduce their carbon footprint. Wenta have developed a unique and simplified support service for small business owners to embark on their net zero journey. We are proud to have Wenta in Stevenage and we look forward to growing our impact at The Business and Technology Centre even further in the coming years to help more people in Stevenage to start, run and grow their own businesses.”
Other local attendees of the event included Tom Pike, Strategic Director at Stevenage Borough Council, Cllr Lloyd Briscoe – Portfolio Holder for Economy and Transport at Stevenage Borough Council, Adrian Hawkins OBE (Chair, Stevenage Development Board and Chair, Herts LEP), Kit Davies (Principal, North Herts College) and Stephen Boulton (Executive Member for Sustainable Economic Growth, Hertfordshire County Council).
To find out more about The Business & Technology Centre on Bessemer Drive call 01438 310000.
To claim your free business ‘Action Zero’ Gold Subscription, visit: www.wenta.co.uk/actionzero
