Business Hothouse
The Business Hothouse offers free, expert advice and guidance to business and start-up owners in the coast-to-capital area. Our business coaches and management consultants offer free workshops, boot camps and 1-2-1 sessions to help bridge your business knowledge gaps.


The Business Hothouse is a free business support programme, run by business experts, that is funded through the ERDF and HM Government.
It’s open to any business owner, start-up founder or sole trader based in the coast-to-capital area. The programme runs until 31st May 2023.
We offer 12 free hours of expert knowledge support across any these six key areas of business:
- Perfecting Productivity and Going for Growth
- Finding Finance & Funding
- Developing Leaders & Managers
- Invest4 Grant Funding
- Commercialising Innovation
- How to Start a Start-up
Our support is provided through in-person and online workshops, boot camps and 1-2-1 sessions. The best way to find out where and when we’re delivering these is to sign-up to our Emailer here, which we broadcast once a fortnight or to check our Facebook Page.



Commercialising Innovation
Turn your new product ideas into a launch-ready entity
Now, more than ever, ambitious organisations need to build innovative products that customers can’t live without. The global pandemic has changed our world forever: how people work, travel, socialise, exercise, create, educate and entertain are unlikely to return to their pre-COVID states. Explore how your business can tap into market insights, knowledge and trends, so that it can respond with a new product offering that fills the gap in the market.
Our free intensive workshop programme, Building Products Customers Crave lets you choose from a range of six support modules that are led by experienced management consultants from the Sussex Innovation Centre. Each of the modules offers clear, insightful advice that will help you to shape your product idea and make it attractive to potential investors and/or shape it for a successful launch.
You can book your place on this program by emailing info@sinc.co.uk or by phoning them on 01273 704400.

Developing Leaders and Managers
Lead and manage more effectively in modern workplaces
All business owners, managers of people and managers of projects can benefit from developing better leadership and management skills. Progressive leadership styles and management strategies are critical to the success of the business growth strategy in any modern workplace. Â
We offer two free intensive programmes, delivered by the University of Chichester Business School at venues in major cities across the coast-to-capital area:Â
- How to Lead & Manage Teams in the 21st Century Organisations
- How to Lead More Effectively in 21st Century Organisations
Understanding and implementing effective Human Resources Management, including the legislation around it, is critical to the success of all organisations.
We offer two free intensive programmes, aimed at business owners and/or their employees, whose place of work is without a dedicated HR resource. Both programmes are delivered by the University of Chichester Business School at venues in major towns and cities in the coast-to-capital area:Â
- HR Practices Every Business Should Have
- Strategic HRM for 21st Century OrganisationsÂ
You can find full details of each programme, including where and when they are running and book your free place here. We will keep adding dates in more cities until May 2023 sign up to our Emailer to receive full details.Â
Finding Finance and Funding
Hands-on support from the finance experts
Understanding how to find and access business finance and funding and then learning how to write and submit successful funding applications will help provide the capital that you need to start or to grow your business.
We offer free workshops and intensive programmes that show you the range of finance options that are open to your particular business or business idea. These workshops also show you how to fill out our Invest4 Grant Fund application form line-by-line and help you to produce any further documentation – such as a cash-flow forecast – that you might be required to submit with your application.
The workshops are delivered by our two business finance expert partners and you can book your free place on their workshops via their Eventbrite Pages: WSX Enterprise Eventbrite Page, Get Set For Growth Eventbrite Page.
Both WSX Enterprise and Get Set For Growth also provide free, confidential 1-2-1 follow-up support sessions and workshop sessions that will help you to develop general business money sense. These sessions can also be booked via their Eventbrite Pages.

Perfecting Productivity and Going for Growth
The Great Accelerator
This is a free, two-day intensive programme aimed at ambitious start-up owners. Delivered by the Sussex Innovation Centre you will work with their management consultants to:
- Stress-test your business model
- Learn how to pitch your business effectively to investors, partners, and customers
- Understand how to build a successful team and how to effectively lead it
- Explore marketing tactics that deliver the best return on investment
- Prepare for Net Zero sustainability challenges and get ahead of the curve
- Develop a creative mindset and make your ideas happen
- Get a crash-course in financial planning including navigating risk and managing cashflow
Find our more and book your free place on The Great Accelerator
We will keep adding dates in more cities until May 2023 sign up to our Emailer to receive full details.