Be a neighbourhood champion and raise funds for your community

Do you want to help make Portsmouth a great place to live, work and play? People with an idea to improve their local community can raise money to make changes with the support of Portsmouth City Council. The council is looking for ‘neighbourhood champions’ – people and community groups who can see ways to […]
Heard About Sam supports Oiyaa in launch of new reward app connecting local businesses with local people

Heard About Sam, a sales and marketing consultant announces a new partnership with Oiyaa to roll out their new reward app connecting local retailers and consumers, thus creating a prosperous and vibrant community for the benefit of the City. Oiyaa partners with small businesses and offers discounts and personalised rewards to customers who make […]
Increasing the jobs tax would stop our recovery before it’s started, say small firms

Amid speculation that the Government is planning to increase employer national insurance contributions (NICs), the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) Development Manager for Hampshire, Dorset and Isle of Wight Nicola Bailey said: “After the huge amount of damage wrought to businesses over the last 16 months, the Government cannot be serious about a strong economic […]
Small business confidence holds steady, with consumers called on to respect “house rules” as England unlocks

FSB is calling on shoppers to abide by the “house rules” of small firms across England from today as its latest SBI shows businesses are still positive about the future despite a delay to the ending of restrictions and mixed messaging around how to operate safely. Half of small business owners (50%) predict that their […]
Emergency funding to support arts and cultural organisations

Arts and cultural organisations in Portsmouth can now apply for emergency funding from the government if they are at imminent risk of failure but were financially sustainable before the coronavirus pandemic. Eligible organisations can seek permission to apply for this fund and, if successful, can apply for grants of between £25,000 and £3m. Applicants must […]
Abri’s Create boosts self-employment skills in free training course

Shaping Portsmouth and Abri are working closely with the wider team within our Skills & Employability Programme to work through a 5 year skills strategy for the city. The objective is to have a highly skilled and motivated work force which will be utilised by our local businesses and to help as many people as […]
Digital Enablement programme wins Teach Portsmouth Partnership Award

On Thursday 5th July our Bridging Portsmouth’s Digital Divide programme, which is led for Shaping by Hasmukh “Husky” Patel and delivered alongside Portsmouth City Council, The Thinking Schools Academy Trust, and The Hive, won the Partnership Award at the Teach Portsmouth Awards 2021. The award recognises two or more organisations who have worked together on […]
Fareham College becomes a Shaping Patron

We at Shaping Portsmouth are very pleased to announce that Fareham College has joined us a Patron. Fareham College first came on board to support our successful 100 in 100 campaign, also the first time all four local colleges collaborated with us on a single project, and we’re looking forward to working with them on […]
Portsmouth’s Business Leaders and colleges working closely to improve Skills & Employability

During the first Portsmouth & District Business Week, which ran from the 5th to the 9th of July and was organised by the Portsmouth & District Business Strategy Group as part of the Hampshire Chamber of Commerce, we at Shaping ran our first Business Leaders Group (BLG) meeting since the Autumn of 2019. The topic […]
Port sparks interest from EV owners with new InstaVolt charging points

The electric vehicle charge point network, InstaVolt, have installed two charging points at Portsmouth International Port. It’s part of the port’s commitment to become the first net carbon neutral UK port by 2030, and the first zero emission port by 2050. Improving air quality and reducing carbon emissions are two of the most pressing issues […]