Grow your business with our Programmes

The Small Business Academy is proud to be an approved delivery partner for Blackpool Growth Business Academy and Lancashire Skills Bootcamps.

The Programmes we are approved to deliver are fully-funded – which means our fees are paid by the funding body, and are received at no cost to you or your business.

Blackpool Growth Academy

  • For Residents of Blackpool Local Authority

  • Develop an Action Plan to grow your business and get on the right track for the next 12 months!

  • For all businesses – Start-up, Growth and Scale-up with in-person or online delivery

  • Access to 1-2-1 coaching, mentoring, Masterclasses, Workshops and Exclusive Networking opportunities

Lancashire Digital Skills Bootcamp

  • For Residents of Lancashire

  • Delivered via Zoom on Tuesdays and Thursdays 10am until 1pm (twice weekly for 12 weeks)

  • For unemployed. employed of self-employed people to upskill in Digital Marketing

  • Fully Funded 12 week Digital Marketing Bootcamp equivalent to a Level 3 (A level)

“I attended the 12 week Digital Skills Bootcamp and would highly recommend Nikki and her team. Highly skilled experts in their field delivered in a really personal way. Thank you so much!”

Lauren Iles
Lauren Jane Coaching

Meet our Team of Delivery Specialists

Nikki Hesford – Managing Director

Nikki has been at the centre of enterprise since 2008, appearing on Dragons Den in 2010 and going on to become a multi-award winning entrepreneur. A speaker and trainer at flagship events such as Atomicon, Brighton SEO and the IODAC, Nikki works with scale-up businesses and marketing teams to advance their specialist skills.

  • High Growth Business Coach

  • Digital Marketing Specialist – specialist area of Meta (Facebook) Ads & E-commerce

  • Sectors of particular interest – Sport and Fitness, FMCG and E-commerce

Adam Botterill

Adam is a highly sought after sales and commercial growth coach. As an ex Royal Marine, Adam has a calm and rational approach to business obstacles and helps businesses to create and implement a methodical plan for growth. With extensive experience in the Construction industry, Adam has worked with numerous scale-up trades and engineering businesses to take their revenues to the next level.

  • Work with Start-ups and growth businesses

  • Specialism in Sales and all things commercial!

  • MBA and CMI Level 7 qualified as well as real ‘in business’ experience

Hayley Caine

Hayley is an expert in strategy and fast track management programmes to scale rapidly, and designed to lead to a successful exit plan. With decades of experience working with decision makers ranging from micro businesses to FTSE100 corporations and universities, Hayley helps you scale and keeps you accountable in doing it.

  • High Growth Business Coach

  • Specialist in Commercial and Sales strategy & implementation

  • Leadership & Management, Talent management and competency modelling to name but a few areas of expertise

Mick Cox

Mick Cox founded The Skills Network back in the 90’s, scaling it to £30m turnover before exiting the day to day management of the company in 2022. Mick has been there, done it and got the T Shirt and now enjoys coaching other aspiring scale-up businesses to do the same. He will have you looking at your business ‘like a big business’ from Day 1, and putting those systems in place to give you the foundations to scale.

  • Works best with ambitious Growth and Scale-up businesses

  • If you are trying to get from £1m to £10m – Mick is the man you need!

  • Extensive experience working with family businesses and business with complicated Director dynamics

Jean Atkinson

Jean is one of our marketing experts, supporting business owners in carrying out effective marketing activities. With almost three decades of marketing experience under her belt, Jean is also a Chartered Marketer, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a qualified teacher.

  • Works with Start-ups and growth businesses

  • Specialises in anything and every marketing related

  • Jean delivers a number of our masterclasses and workshops