A SUCCESSFUL business growth programme which has helped to create 80 new jobs in Cumbria has been extended.

Cumbria Forum will continue this year after a further £141,000 was awarded to Lancaster University Management School, which runs Cumbria Forum, by the European Regional Development Fund.

Cumbria Forum helps eligible business leaders focus on building their business for the future.

Since its launch in 2016, it has supported 168 Cumbrian firms to create more than 80 new jobs and launch 24 new products or services.

Now, with additional funding taking it through to September 2022, Cumbria Forum hopes to support another 20 businesses over a 9-month period.

To re-launch the project, new ‘Business Excellence’ short programmes have been launched and will take place throughout 2022.

Each programme will consist of three half-day online workshops which are designed to be short, practical and impactful.

All workshops are fully-funded for eligible small and medium-sized businesses, and are designed to tackle issues that often present barriers to business growth.

Ewan Pullan, Project Manager at Lancaster University Management School, said: “Our new half-day workshops are designed to directly tackle the toughest issues that small and medium enterprises say they are facing at the moment.

"Businesses can choose which programme to attend depending on which issue resonates with them the most".