Our Migrant Business Support Project: Your questions answered

I have a business idea, how can you help me get it off the ground?

Our Enterprise Facilitators can help you through all the stages of setting up a business. From your initial idea to a business plan, to marketing and getting your website up and running – our advisers can help you to get started.

I have an existing business, can you help me to grow?

We can! We also specialise in helping businesses to thrive and grow to the next level. Sometimes when you’re busy running a business, it can be hard to take a step back and look at your business plan strategically. We can help you work out your next steps and plans for the future.

The project is only for third country nationals, what does this mean?

This project is for people from a migrant background, specifically people who are third country nationals. This means you are eligible for our free support if you are from a country that is not in the UK and not in the EU. If you are in any doubt about whether this applies to you, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us using the contact details below.

Does it matter where I live?

We can offer you this free support if you live in the West of England or the West Midlands. This means, if you live near Bristol, Bath, Birmingham, Coventry or Wolverhampton, we can help you. If you’re not sure if you’re in the catchment area, just have a chat to one of our team using the contact details below.

What kind of businesses do you work with?

Any! We’ve worked with entrepreneurs from all kinds of sectors from lifestyle, care, import/export, cleaning, beauty and so much more. If you’ve got an idea, we can help you to grow, thrive, or simply work out if entrepreneurship is for you.

I’m still not sure if this support is for me, do you have any examples?

Of course, we’ve been supporting people set up businesses for more than two years now. Read about Dina’s journey to setting up her online shopping business here: Introducing From Kush: Celebrating Sudanese culture and adapting to COVID-19 | ACH

We helped Dina to set up her business on the website Etsy, where she was able to start selling her range of products inspired by Sudanese culture. We asked Dina if she had any advice for budding entrepreneurs and she said ‘Just go for it! You never know if you are going to succeed or fail if you don’t take the risk. You can do it!’.

I’ve heard you’re also putting on events online?

We are! Our next event is a workshop on the 18th August all about 'Protecting your business'. This workshop will cover the four main areas of intellectual property (trade marks, patents, designs and copyright) and how to protect Intellectual Property rights and consequently, your business. It’s a great opportunity to receive the latest information and advice on Intellectual Property - direct from the Intellectual Property Office.

If you’re interested in going, you can sign up here: Protecting your Business Workshop Tickets, Wed 18 Aug 2021 at 14:30 | Eventbrite

Interested in finding more or signing up?

Bristol: Julia.dixon-barrow@ach.org.uk

West Midlands: Sonia.Nazir@ach.org.uk

*This project was formerly called The Effective Digital Entrepreneurship and Business Support Project.

This project has been part funded by the European Union Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund. Making management of migration flows more efficient across the European Union. The above text reflects ACH’s views only and not those of the European Commission or the UKRA. In addition, neither the European Commission nor the UKRA is liable for any use that may be made of the information contained above.