NatWest Accelerator: Helping North East businesses to innovate

In new documentary The Future of Finance, the Newcastle branch of NatWest Accelerator Program shares how they help businesses at some of the most crucial points in their business journey.

Based in Newcastle Helix, NatWest Accelerator Program provides a wide range of support to growing SMEs from across the region to scale effectively.

Sophie Gowling, NatWest Accelerator Program

With hubs across the country, NatWest Accelerator’s programme helps businesses to level up in a variety of ways, including accessing new markets, attracting talent and building the best teams, leadership development, developing scalable infrastructure and access to growth funding.

Sophie Gowling has drawn on her own creative entrepreneurial background to help hundreds of businesses in the four years since she joined NatWest as Enterprise Acceleration Manager. She has a clear message for entrepreneurs looking to secure investment:

"When you're raising finance, you are not alone. There is a range of support that's available for you, whether that's voice coaches to support with your pitching all the way through to finance support, legal support and IP protection."  

As well as offering a range of support and guidance, NatWest Accelerator helps businesses get investment-ready through a pitch club, where entrepreneurs are given a dedicated space to pitch one another, offer feedback and attend guest pitch panels.

Sophie acknowledges that at the early stages of an enterprise especially, there are going to be obstacles - and that’s where NatWest’s expertise comes in.

NatWest are based at the Lumen Building on the Helix site

"There's lots of different challenges that businesses are going to face that can be  due to selling, leadership, funding and accessing that funding,” Sophie explains. "We want to understand what those weaknesses are, and then tailor the growth around that."

For Sophie, the person behind the initial idea is not always the natural or right choice for a company’s leadership longer term. She said:

"I don't think founders are always the best people to run a business. Often founders will find themselves running a business based on a passion that they've made into a business from a hobby. So often they aren't the people that can naturally lead a team."

Sophie is an Entrepreneur in her own right

Having worked with multiple entrepreneurs across a range of sectors, Sophie believes that a holistic approach is crucial for entrepreneurs as they manage the opportunities and challenges that come with growing a business.

"I think that the foundational need for any business owner is to consider their life holistically, not just within the business…are they eating well, sleeping well, are they exercising?"

By taking advantage of the support on offer from initiatives like NatWest Accelerator, these entrepreneurs are able to grow their business in a sustainable way that doesn’t compromise their wellbeing.

The future for growing businesses is bright, according to Sophie:

"My thoughts on the future is that it is a really exciting space within entrepreneurship as a whole. You've got AI and technology advancements that are constantly changing within the business landscape, and so it's really important that business owners stay up to date with that, and that they're constantly using that innovation within their organisation."

There are a number of NatWest Accelerator hubs across the UK for businesses to access the services available.

To learn more about NatWest Accelerator, visit https://www.natwest.com/business/business-services/entrepreneur-accelerator.html.

To watch The Future of Finance, go to https://youtu.be/qfqP9B5T1gA?feature=shared.