Established

Profitability can be increased by either increasing your sales, and/or reducing your costs.  EIP will appoint a mentor to work with you to see where there is growth potential, as well as to review your cost structure to see where savings can be made, and efficiencies improved.  We have worked with many companies performing a deep review of their business, structure and potential markets resulting in significant changes, savings and increases in profitability.

Depending on the industrial sector your company is in there are a number of grants available, such as for low carbon projects.  There are also R&D tax credits where the costs of R&D can be offset against your profits to reduce the tax bill.  We have significant experience in the areas of funding, R&D and bid writing. EIP will appoint a mentor to help determine sources of R&D grants to suit your business.

There are many ways to reach new markets, such as exporting overseas, appointment new distributors and/or dealers.  UKTI offers many training courses on this topic.  EIP will appoint a mentor to work with you to increase your market share, and to reach new markets.  We have significant contacts with UKTI and there equivalents in other countries and can help you get a foothold in those markets as well as a significant China facing operation in our Essex International team.

One of the ways innovation can improve your business is by staying ahead of the competition.  If your company constantly innovates, you will create unique selling points that makes your company more interesting to your clients and gets you ahead of your competitors.  EIP will appoint a mentor to work with you though proof of concept stages and will help you to commercialise new ideas and create a business model around your innovation.

There are many sources of finance, from debt finance (banks, institutions), grants (R&D, low carbon for example), angel investors (for seeds), crowd funding, venture capital and even patrons (people that like your idea and want to see it come to fruition, often donate small amounts) or sponsors.  We have a lot of experience of the varied ways in which you can attract funding/investment for your business and will work with you to understand your needs and the potential funding market best for your business.

One of the ways to help to determine what a company is worth is by looking at similar companies and what they were worth at various stages of their development (e.g. at each round of financing, at IPO).  Another benchmark is by your sales turnover.  EIP will appoint a mentor to work with you to help to determine what your company is worth.

If you watch Dragon’s Den you’ll know that investors take calculated risks and the lower the risk, the happier the investor – typically an investor will want to invest in the overall venture, rather than a risky new venture.  The investor is investing in the people behind the business and not only the technology in a new venture.  Having said that, it all depends on the structure of the proposed investment.  EIP will appoint a mentor to help you to become ‘investment-ready’.

There are lots of ways to grow a business, including by entering new markets (e.g. exports), diversifying your products/services, increasing demand and concurrent production for new demand, increasing efficiencies.  EIP will appoint a mentor to work with you to see how your business could grow rapidly.