Ant Parsons

Background

About Ant Parsons

Sustainability and Economic Development - hand in hand, bit by bit. Read on.I am the Managing Director of ALP Synergy Ltd and a recognised business and environmental innovator. Driven by a clear mission, I am committed to supporting small businesses to start, grow, and thrive as part of a sustainable and fair economy by 2030. With deep expertise in the UK SME landscape, I provide strategic insight and hands-on delivery to small businesses and the organisations that serve them. I work closely with Economic Development Directors in councils and growth hubs, helping them maximise the impact of business-growth funding and effectively engage every local type of SME.I bring a uniquely grounded perspective, shaped by my own experience of founding, scaling, and ultimately closing several ventures across the retail, not-for-profit, and charity sectors. This real-world journey informs my practical, empathetic, and straight-talking approach to business support. For our clients, we are their easy-to-work-with and trusted partner who will deliver and/or co-create their business support programmes to SMEs, through our proven, robust processes in: • project management • marketing and business recruitment • business triage • webinars, workshops and masterclasses • peer to peer scale-up support • expert one to one business advice, coaching and mentoring • managing grant schemes • monitoring and reporting on performance and results We have a successful track record in supporting councils and growth hubs since 2014 and have achieved outstanding and award-winning results for our clients. But what point is there developing local economies if we don’t have a planet fit to live on!I also work on a range of contracts delivering innovative and collaborative programmes, connecting businesses, researchers, policy makers and wider stakeholders to solve challenging problems. For instance I have managed a medium sized UK water charity, delivered the Local Nature Recovery Strategy stakeholder engagement in Oxfordshire, delivering a review of ‘Knowledge Exchange and Technology Transfer’ barriers and opportunities in Malaysia for the British Council and implemented Water Stewardship on Industrial Parks in Ethiopia. In these projects we have engaged stakeholders, collated, and analysed data and evidence, and built new relationships for our clients.