We provide access to a wide range of help and advice services designed to enable businesses of all sizes - from start-up to more established enterprises - to grow and prosper.

Growth achieved on the solid foundations of sound business practice is essential to a healthy economy, because it generates jobs beyond its doors to regular suppliers, and all that means for the wider community.

So... we are delighted to sponsor, for the second year, the Growth Business of the Year category. We want any business that has outperformed its growth expectations in the last year to enter.

For some businesses growth will be steady and achieved over many years, while others have the potential for very rapid expansion, because of the kind of products and services they provide.

For this particular type of enterprise, support is a available through the Business Accelerator Network, which has been designed to help entrepreneurs with "high growth potential" business start up ideas. The type of entrepreneur that would benefit from membership of the network is one with a plan that will deliver a business turnover of £150,000 in the first year of trading and around £1 million by the end of the third.

They have access to existing "high growth" entrepreneurs and business support practitioners (for example banks, solicitors, accountants, patent lawyers, product and production design specialists), who act as role models and mentors.

The business community that we serve includes service-based companies, food and drinks manufacturers, tourism, leisure, retail, bioscience, farming, light industrial, engineering, distribution, multi-media and an expanding IT sector.

Our teams of advisers and information specialists are fully geared to support the needs of a diverse business community and help companies, irrespective of their current size, to exploit opportunities for growth.

The key areas in which we provide objective advice and support are: people development, exporting, ICT and E-business, sales and marketing, design, innovation and finance.

All of the above can play a role in business success and we hope that among the entries for the Growth Business of the Year award will be companies that have benefited from help and advice that we have given.

Updated: 09:54 Tuesday, June 01, 2004