What is Regional Business Partners (RBP) Network?
The RBP Network consists of 15 regional growth agencies throughout the country.
Each one provides access to the same government-funded programme and resources, but they also have something unique: they take a special pride in each region, and love to see it succeed.
The intent is to allocate business support to small and medium enterprises in the form of Capability Vouchers. These
vouchers accounted for 50% of the upskilling/capability building services up to the amount of $5,000 with the remaining portion being paid by the business itself.
Check out more information about Regional Business Partners Network below
Who is SODA?
SODA is the Regional Business Partner (RBP) for the Waikato and is funded by the New Zealand Government.
The Network helps foster growth by providing eligible businesses with specialist advice and support, and funding to enhance business capability, including research and development.
A SODA Business Growth Advisor can help identify the challenges and opportunities facing your business. They will then advise you on what tools, connections, training, or development you need to achieve your goals.
How can I get Business Support?
Simply reach out to the team at SWIFT and we can guide you through the support offerings that are available.
SWIFT’S contribution
The optimal scenario is that RBP funding is provided for 50% of the Service provider or programme recommended up to $5000. In this scenario the remaining 50% (up to $5000), rests with the Client receiving the services.
As a supporter of South Waikato businesses, SWIFT will partner with local RBP recipients to reduce these business support costs. The Client (being a South Waikato business) will pay $500, leaving the remaining portion of the 50% to be covered by SWIFT.
In the scenario of a RBP accredited and approved service totalling $10,000, the split of funding would be RBP – $5,000, South Waikato Business/Client – $500, SWIFT – $4500.
Not all services are expected to cost $10,000, so the amount of funding provided by RBP, or SWIFT will differ, but the business contribution will always be a minimum of $500.
At times the RBP funding pot may not be able to support 50% of the costs of a service. This may happen at various times of the year when requests for support are oversubscribed in the region. In this scenario, the Client may be responsible for more than 50% of the cost of the service.
While SWIFT will endeavour to help local businesses to access the RBP support services, the contribution cap allocated to each business engaging with RBP for the first time is $4,500.
All scenarios for first time South Waikato businesses using of the RBP scheme require a minimum of $500 to be paid by the business themselves.