Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership – Peer to Peer

“Physician, heal thyself”! It can be a sobering experience to place your reputation on the line. But that’s exactly what Jack Stopforth did when he was retained by the Cumbria LEP to provide counselling and business support to a cohort of eleven local small and medium sized businesses.

In a career extending into its sixth decade, Jack has managed and advised major public agencies and his own and other businesses ranging in size from a few hundred thousand pounds in turnover to billions. There are few challenges in HR, marketing, financial management or stakeholder relationships that he has not encountered – some were negotiated successfully enough to sustain and grow the businesses and some were less successful.

All of those experiences are valuable – and in some respects, the less successful ones teach one the most – about one’s own personal resilience and resources, who you can and can’t depend on for support in a crisis and the importance of reputation. All of those qualities and disciplines were tested by the SMEs who attended the sessions and thankfully, the feedback was positive both from the businesses and the client, Cumbria LEP. We look forward to seeing the programme revived or better yet resourced

in a way that reaches out to more businesses, including newer and smaller companies that qualified this time around.