West Kent Business Programme, the business support affiliate to Invest West Kent is about to celebrate its first anniversary. Since its launch in March 2023, the programme has provided 71 West Kent start-ups with 4-8 hours of expert mentoring in addition to providing networking opportunities and online resources to over 650 businesses and freelancers – all free of charge.

In addition to these free resources, £500 micro-grants were awarded to over 30 West Kent start-ups to help them get their business ideas of the ground, with a second round of awards coming in September this year.

This programme has been delivered by Smarter Society, a business support organisation  headquartered in Brentford, through the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund.