Goldman looking for next class of graduates

The investment bank is holding marketing events for the next class in its 10,000 Small Businesses support programme.

The multi-year scheme is designed to unlock the economic and job creation potential of businesses.

Organisers believe that greater access to education and business support services helps remove barriers to growth.

Experts from Leeds University Business School and Said Business School at Oxford University have joined forces with the bank to deliver the 100-hour progr-amme.

It is funded by the Goldman Sachs Foundation and supported by Leeds Ahead, the social enterprise which helps regenerate deprived areas in the city.

The programme is delivered over 12 sessions and covers business and management education topics including money and metrics, human resources and marketing.

It is open to owners or senior decision-makers at firms with between five and 40 staff.

Around 25 successful applicants will begin the programme in October, a year after Goldman Sachs launched the pilot scheme.

The pilot ended in March and was followed by the first official class, which graduates next month.

Taran Sohal, director of Bradford-based Cloud2, told the Yorkshire Post what the latest batch of recruits – the second official class – could expect from the programme.

He said: “We were the genuine guinea pigs.”

Mr Sohal added: “We have been able to re-engineer how we do our business.”

His company, which provides Microsoft SharePoint project implementations, overhauled its HR strategy.

“We thought we had to find experts and we weren’t finding these people locally.

“The programme really helped open our eyes to graduate interns, apprenticeships and working more closely with universities.

“Since then we have recruited four new people. Now we have eight.”

The programme helped Cloud2 improve its operations, said Mr Sohal.

He added: “We have been able to reduce average project time from six months to eight weeks.

“With the same people we can do more. Customers are happy because it’s quicker to get in. It’s win-win all round.”

Cloud2 has also diversified its business. The company had focused solely on supplying the NHS but is now moving into the corporate sector.

It has since been shortlisted to supply its services to a leading global brewer.

Mr Sohal said: “When the mindset changes, expanding your business is much easier than we thought when we had a closed mind.”

The 41-year-old and his business partner Simon Hudson founded the business in 2008.

Turnover doubled last year to £650,000.

Trevor Smith, a managing director at Goldman Sachs, has mentored the firm.

He said: “Technology is a common interest, so by sharing our experience and knowledge we bring different perspectives to help solve the growth challenges facing Cloud2.

“I am finding it a real learning opportunity as I broaden my horizons, while testing the relevance of my knowledge from many years in a large organisation to a small enterprise. It is definitely a two-way street.”

The bank has provided mentors for many of the businesses in the programme.

Its London-based co-chief executives, Richard Gnodde and Michael Sherwood, have both mentored businesses in Yorkshire.

A spokeswoman for Goldman Sachs said: “Within the firm, there’s huge demand from staff to get involved.

“People think it’s important and want to do something that’s beyond their day jobs.

“They think it’s good for personal development as well, doing something outside the firm.”

Marketing sessions for the next class take place on:

Tuesday June 14, 5pm-8pm, at Mind The Gap Studios, Silk Warehouse, Patent Street, Bradford BD9 4SA

Monday June 20, 5pm-8pm, 1 Park Row, Leeds, LS1 5AB

Monday July 4, 5pm-8pm, AMP Technology Centre, Brunel Way, Rotherham, S60 5WG.

For more information, email [email protected] or call 0113 246 7877.

Backing for top awards

GOLDMAN Sachs is one of the main sponsors of the Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business Awards.

The investment bank is sponsoring the Young Business of the Year category, open to companies up to three years old.

A spokeswoman said: “Goldman Sachs is delighted to support these awards, which celebrate business and entrepreneurship in Yorkshire.”

She added: “Encouraging entrepreneurial activity in the UK is vital to the health of our economy. Small businesses and social enterprises are the engine of job creation potential.”

Goldman piloted the programme in Yorkshire and has since expanded the programme to Manchester.

The spokeswoman said: “10,000 Small Businesses is helping the inspirational leaders of local small businesses and social enterprises to achieve growth ambitions.”

The deadline for entries is this Friday, June 17. To enter online, visit www.yorkshirepost.co.uk